Boston
by fluffyfun91
Summary: AU-Sasuke was sick of his miserable life, so he decided to leave it all behind, He never expected to find the one person who could truly save him…Narusasu *on temporary hiatus*
1. The Great Taka Base

**Summary**

**AU-Sasuke was sick of misarable life, so he decided to leave it all behind, He never expected to find the one person who could truly save him…Narusasu **

Enjoy (I hope), my first real story so be gentle please, but I do love critisism which help me better myself. Especially if I made major errors in my spelling; English isn't my native language...

O yeah, I do not own Naruto... or Boston...

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 The Great Taka Base<strong>

"_Brother, brother! Will you play with me?" An excited Sasuke asked his brother Itachi excitedly, which prompted said brother to look up, the son shining down on them which made his pale skin shine slightly, and smiled apologetic "I'm sorry, little brother, I've got a lot of studying to do"_

"_But you're always busy! It's not fair" The little boy pouted (adorably)"Why are you studying anyway? It's not like your grates can get EVEN higher!"_

_Itachi smiled fondly down at his brother and extended his arm to ruffle his hair "Silly Sasuke, if I want to get into a college and make father proud my grates have to be really high" The little boy pouted some more, displeased that his big brother was still treating him like a five-year-old, which was unacceptable; he was almost seven now! "Excel at everything you do, Sasuke, that's the Uchiha way"_

_Sasuke innocently looked up "The Uchiha way? Daddy's always talking about that… Is it hard to do?"_

"_Very, you can't do everything you want, for instance…" Itachi moved his face close to his little brother "I'd love to play with you, my little brother, but it's simply not possible"_

"_What about Aoi?"_

_The elder Uchiha paled "How do you know about that?"_

"_I heard you and Daddy fighting about her yesterday evening…"_

_Itachi let out a sign "What have I told you about spying on your elders, Sasuke?"_

"_Don't do it?"_

"_Exactly, yet you keep sticking your nose in places it does not belong" Itachi closed his eyes and let himself fall onto the grass, Sasuke knew he wasn't supposed to see, but he could clearly see a small smile of amusement appear on his big brother's face. At that, Sasuke smiled too and let himself fall down next to his brother, both brothers gazing at the clear blue sky._

"_I love her, but I'm not supposed to"  
><em>

_Surprised, Sasuke turned to his brother, he didn't get it, wasn't love supposed to be a good thing, his mommy had said so. But he guessed there was some grown-up reason to it, so he remained silent, like he understood, he didn't want Itachi to think he was still a kid who didn't know anything!_

"_That's what I really want, aside from playing with you that is" The large hand intertwined with his small one "to be with her… a new life, far away…"_

_Sasuke squeezed his brother's hand some more, he could tell the teen was sad and if Sasuke hated one thing, it was his big brother being sad. "Far away? Where?"_

"_She lives in Boston, so that's where I want to go"_

"_Would you visit me?" Sasuke asked fearfully_

"_As often as possible" His brother answered, a fond smile on his face, as if he was already underway to his beloved._

"_Then I'll ask god! I'll ask him to make you happy, so that you can go to Boston, if you ask too, our wish will certainly come true!"_

_This time it was Itachi's turn to look surprised, he gazed a second or two at his younger brother, and then he shot forward, encircling his arms around the little body and digging his head into the crook of the youngsters neck "You'd do that for me, Sasuke?"_

_Small arms slowly circled around the older males waist to, still not long enough to reach the whole way, so he digged his fingers into the blue shirt Itachi was wearing. _

"_Of course, I just want big brother to be happy"_

_Sasuke, big boy as he was, ignored the tears he felt dripping into his neck_

"_So, let's go to Boston, big brother"_

A particularly large bump in the road caused Sasuke to jolt awake, a wince of pain immediately evident on his face. Disoriented he looked around, taking in the filthy bus he was currently sitting in, a few questionably strangers leering at him, a few other questionably strangers leering at a rather terrified girl sitting in the front of the bus.

So, really one look was necessary to realize; no, he wasn't in his king-sized bed, which stood in his king-sized room, which in turn was placed in the east wing of his _(not really his)_ king-sized mansion. And also no, he wasn't in a grassy field with his brother and he certainly wasn't seven years old anymore…

Sasuke quickly checked his bag, it really hadn't been smart to fall asleep in a shady bus, with shady people at one O'clock in the morning, but it had been an awful long day and it was no surprise he was dead-tired. Luckily for him, he still had all of his possessions –few as they were- and he didn't seem to be approached by any of the men while he was asleep.

But he needed to start using his head, he couldn't make mistakes, in a few hours he would be discovered gone, and Sasuke planned to be far away by then. He couldn't afford being caught, _his _wrath would be unimaginable and he would rather not be on the receiving end of it.

So, far away he would go! Far, far away! He would leave Japan, Asia even, and start a new life on a whole different continent. One that harboured thousands of illegal immigrants every year, one that he could disappear into, one _that man _had little connection too.

America

Once there, it didn't really matter which part, but Sasuke had decided on the state as soon as he had decided on the continent. He would go to Boston, just like his brother had always wanted to, and he would try to stay hidden, he would try to blend in, he would try for a different life.

Leaving all his old memories behind.

The bus stopped moving, halting a stop before his and Sasuke was glad to see the girl leave the bus, a bulky boy (likely her boyfriend) outside waiting to pick her up. The men that had been leering at her were obviously disappointed, the girl passionately hugged the boy and they left together.

Though he was glad the girl was out of harm's way, this posed another problem, the men who were leering at _him_ had now doubled and Sasuke wasn't so lucky to have some strong looking guy pick him up when he reached his destination. You see, Sasuke had always been exceptionably beautiful -obviously an Uchiha trait- and it was often said that he could turn any man gay, any lesbian straight, any asexual horny. He was also extremely feminine looking (something he had tried to counter by chopping his hair short, rather than growing it out, like Itachi had done… it hadn't helped) and although he willed with all his power to _grow,_ he remained rather short.

He was a small, feminine looking beautiful boy, who many were attracted too, in a bus full of lowlife horny man at one o'clock in the morning, needing to get out at a stop notorious for its crime-rate and many dark alleys.

See his problem?

It really was rather sad that he still felt safer here, in this bus, than he had felt in that king-sized mansion.

Needless to say, Sasuke was surprised when in fact he _was_ being picked up by 'a bulky guy', he blinked twice to confirm that he wasn't having a hopeful hallucination, but no, a man really was standing there by the bus stop, obviously trying to look inconspicuous which he failed miserably in, being an giant and all. How the hell did that man _know_? Had they already discovered him to be gone and had the guy took wind of that? Was he already being hunted?

Sasuke quickly excited the bus when it had finally stopped, and almost flew towards his saviour, barely even noticing the longing looks he was receiving from the remaining occupants in the bus. With a smile -a real one- on his face he hugged the man around the waist, barely able to contain the tears gathering in his eyes. He felt a gentle hand descend onto his head and instead of feeling sad and guilty, like so many times before, he only felt happiness.

"Juugo!"

"Sasuke" The voice he knew so well answered him "Karin told me what happened, we can't waste any time, come with me"

Sasuke quickly obeyed the command, clinging to his friend's arm, hiding in his shadow, they walked fast, but didn't dare run; it would only arise suspicion. You could never know where _his _spies were, and Sasuke could easily be recognised. Not a word was exchanged between the two men, the questions would come when they were safely inside, but Sasuke could tell Juugo was worried, his sharp eyes kept scanning his body for possible injuries and Sasuke's pride made him try to look as fine as possible, but he really couldn't stop the occasional wince of pain.

After about fifteen minutes, they finally arrived at a rather poor excuse for a house, the walls blackened and dirty, the garden littered with all kinds of objects –ranging from a rusted bike, to a discarded mouldy matrass, to an used condom laying innocently in the grass- and the roof seemed it could crumble at any minute. The house certainly had seen better days, Sasuke would know, it had been one of his favourite places when he had been younger. It was also the place he had agreed to meet Karin, Juugo being here was an added bonus. She must've been able to contact him at the last moment…

They silently made their way to the front door, once arrived Sasuke raised his fist to knock, one, two, three times before a feminine voice answered "Who dares to enter the great Taka base?" Sasuke allowed himself a brief smile "The one with the inferiority complex" Sasuke turned his head towards Juugo "And the one who's to scary to ignore"

The door clicked open, and both men silently went inside, as soon as the door behind them closed with a dull thud, Sasuke found himself with an armful of Karin, pregnant heavy Karin, pregnant, heavy, _hormonal_, Karin. She was hysterically crying into his chest, not one word audible, and he could only wrap his arms around her and thank _god_ that she and the baby seemed okay, that everything hadn't been for nothing.

"Sasuke! Thank god your alive! I thought _he _would surely…I thought…" once again, the girl dissolved into tears, clinging desperately to him. He could only watch her, not having the heart to tell her exactly how close he had been to death.

Karin, still glued to his side, eventually led them to the living room, which was adorned with filthy furniture and many spin rags, like it hadn't been inhabited in quite some while. But that wasn't true, it just had to _seem _that way. Though Sasuke himself hadn't been there in over five years, just like Karin hadn't, someone else used the house plenty.

"Sasuke! Old friend! You're okay!" a white-haired, sickly looking male called out, his voice raspy, before he too went in for the kill; grabbing the (smaller, NO NOT SMALL) boy roughly by the shoulders before giving him a bone-crushing hug. Sasuke was always surprised how many strength Suigetsu still possessed despite having a life/energy-sucking disease.

Not long after that, they all took a seat –Sasuke on a chair that seemed to be the home of several disgusting insects- and their expressions became grim. Suigetsu was the first to break the silence.

"Well, it seemed we're kind off screwed, aren't we?"

Karin sadly rubbed her bulging belly "Yeah, but I still like to think that my little one has a chance, if only a little one"

"We're not losing hope yet" Sasuke spoke up "We still have a chance" He turned to Suigetsu "Have you had any luck with the things I asked?"

The boy grinned toothily "Who do you think I am, Sasu-chan? Of course I have them!" And with that said, The white-haired boy tossed three passports onto the table, together with three airplane tickets, he barely had time to dodge Sasuke's attempt to punch him for the 'sasu-chan' comment. "Pretty face you'll be- AH that hurt Sasuke!- you will leave for America, as you and Karin had already planned, once there you're pretty much on your own. That bastard hasn't got much influence there, but neither have we, though he'll look for you the hardest, considering your…ehm… _history_, so you really need to be in a place he can't easily access. Besides he'll expect you to travel to England, since you still have some relatives living there, don't worry, if you aren't there he will not hurt them; even he isn't so stupid to involve the British authorities. Your nationality won't be Japanese, since the whole world knows what Japan has become and therefor wouldn't trust you, I'm guessing you want some sort of a chance?"

"Yes that would be nice…"

"Alrighty then, Karin, you'll be heading to a small village near Lyon called Roanne, think up some tragic story about being pregnant and don't attract attention. It may be wise to change your hair colour or something, be sure to get contacts too, some of _his_ people take business trips there, but he won't actively hunt you, so just stay as far away from the big cities and you'll be fine."

"Okay, I always wanted to know what I would look like as a brunette"

"Good, positive attitude, very nice. Now then Juugo-"

"Wait a minute" Karin, piped up "Is Juugo in danger too?"

"Well since Juugo abandoned his post at the time you two escaped, it's safe to say it puts him into a tight spot" Suigetsu answered her "And we all know that a simple suspicion is enough to put someone before a firing squad"

Karin looked horrified, Sasuke noted, and he quickly put an arm around her.

"No! O my god, it's all my fault! First Sasuke, now Juugo! I keep putting everyone in danger!" She cried hysterically, her shoulder shaking as quiet sobs began to wrack her body.

"Don't cry, Karin, You still haven't screwed me over-" A deadly glare from a prissy Sasuke shut Suigetsu up nice and quick.

"It's not your fault Karin" Sasuke comforted her, normally he was terrible at such situations, but living with _that man_ had taught him a great deal about helping tortured and broken people, something Suigetsu OBVIOUSLY wasn't very good at "We all just want to be free, that's all we ever wanted, our freedom. Besides we'll all die before something happened to that little baby of yours"

Sniffing, Karin gently laid her hand on her belly once again, Sasuke had never known the normally aggressive girl possessed such an expression of utter love before she had become pregnant, but this baby had brought new hope into her eyes. It was something new, something untouched, so unlike they were.

Because at the end of the day, they were nothing but playthings to _that bastard_, just tools to be used and discarded.

Just tools, nothing more.

"Well anyway" Suigetsu continued, ignoring the little sniffles that still came from the redhead "Juugo, I've decided you'll best fit in with the Dutch, their like, one of the tallest people in the world and maybe you won't stick out that much there, again, try to avoid mayor cities like Amsterdam, I'm SURE some of _his_ lackeys are holed up there, I've managed to rent a small apartment in Breda, I think you'll be safe there."

So that was it, Sasuke realized, they would all go their separate ways, all find new life's somewhere far away, leaving their war-ridden country behind, yet it was still their home, and although so much had happened, he still loved it dearly. He sadly raised his eyes to meet Suigetsu's, he had expected this outcome, but it still hurt to leave the sick guy all alone, if any of those power hungry vultures ever got their hands on him…

"Suigetsu… You won't join us?" He finally seemed to get out.

Suigetsu smiled a rare smile, one that had been buried a long time ago "No, I'll think I'll stay here, Japan is lovely this time of season, you know…Burning buildings and all? Besides who would keep taps on the fearful bastard if I'm gone, heh?"

"Suigetsu…" The normally silent Juugo spoke up, clearly heartbroken about the prospect of leaving him. Karin kept her head bowed, silently stroking her belly, tears still streaming down her tired face.

"I'll be okay guys, alright? We all know what will happen if I were to go on a plane, and I really don't want to leave the southern neighbourhood all alone, without any sort of protection, without any chance of leaving the country if that time comes… You guys have already given up far too much at my expense… just try to live, okay? Try to find a better life out there."

After that, all remained silent, but kept seated exactly where they were, they knew each other well enough to know everything without speaking, and as the sky became darker, after Sasuke had forcibly been stripped and his many bruises and cuts he had been concealing had been bandaged up, after they had all tried to hit Suigetsu over the head when he had yet again made some inappropriate comment, after Karin had spent an half hour trying to get Sasuke to say _how he managed to get such soft skin_, they finally came to the grim acceptance that they would most likely never see each other again.

And before they knew it, it was already morning and they had to leave, to the small airplane which would take them to the border of Korea, from there on they would blend in, all of them leaving for a different destination.

Their goodbye was brief, nobody really knew what to say, they didn't even hug, it all seemed so final… They all just nodded at each other, grabbed their suitcase and headed into a different direction.

Sasuke didn't know what awaited him in America, he didn't know what to expect from those people, but it couldn't have been any worse than living in that dreaded mansion, he couldn't meet people worse than _that bastard_, and if he died, at least he would die freed from his chains, at least he wouldn't be a tool anymore.

And that was enough for him

Leaning back into his chair as the airplane took off, Sasuke closed his eyes and let his thumb trace his passport, his new identity, right before his movements froze, and his eyes shot open.

There in neat little letters, his new name…

seikou, Kohana

"S-seikou, Kohana? That BASTARD called me delicate little flower?"

If he ever got his hands on Suigetsu, he was going to KILL him himself!

"_Brother? Do you think I can go with you if you go to Boston?"_

"_Silly Sasuke, It's only a dream, Japan is where we belong, It's our home, don't ever forget that."_


	2. Icha Icha Paradise

I'm Back!

I still don't own Naruto!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 Icha Icha Paradise<strong>

_Sasuke was very young when he realized that his family was important, it wasn't hard to figure out, the way people would look at his father, always with the utmost respect, the way crowds would part if a person from the Uchiha family would walk by, the way everyone seemed to be so nice to them. His father once told him that the Uchiha's represented perfection and that this had to be preserved, therefor Uchiha's could only breed with the most suitable of people. _

_Always act in a manner that would benefit the family name- the first rule to being an Uchiha, It never mattered what you might desire, it never mattered who you loved, it was required for an heir of the Uchiha name to leave all those feelings aside and live to better the family._

_It was the way his ancestors had lived, it was the way his father lived, and eventually it was also the way his big brother chose to live._

_But back then, in those peaceful times when Itachi dreamed about being with his beloved Aoi, Sasuke was still too young to realise this, too young to realise the burden such an (in)famous name as Uchiha would be in his future life. _

_No, all Sasuke ever worried about was making his father proud. But his father was always busy, and didn't feel the need to clear his schedule for his seven-year old son. No matter how hard Sasuke studied, no matter how hard he tried, it had already been done and he remained tucked away in the shadow of his older brother. _

_Sasuke was never noticed._

_So he could sneak out very easily._

_The first time he disobeyed his parent's silent orders to stay indoors, it was already nearing eleven O'clock in the evening and he couldn't sleep. His father and brother had been arguing the whole evening and it broke the little Uchiha's heart, so he decided he would go somewhere where the screaming voices couldn't reach him. Outside._

_Sasuke walked silently to the park his mother sometimes accompanied him to, which on later reflection wasn't a smart thing to do, you know? A seven year old, walking in the dark, alone, at night… but Sasuke was seven, and therefor didn't really realize how much of an idiot he was being. When the boy finally arrived at the mentioned park, he silently got onto one of the swings, sitting there, Sasuke could finally treasure the silence that was so hard to find in his own house these days._

"_What have we here?"_

_And that was the night he first met Orochimaru._

_Sasuke almost fell of the swing, he hadn't expected someone else to be there, he quickly looked behind him and saw a rather tall man with long shiny black hair coming his way. The stranger crouched before him, so that they were at eye-level._

"_Ah, I see, an Uchiha, aren't you?" The man's voice was funny-sounding, with a definite hiss in it. Sasuke innocently looked into the strange yellow eyes and noted that the pupils were slightly slitted._

"_I'm not supposed to talk to strangers" His mommy had told him that, of course his mommy had also told him to stay indoors when it was dark…_

_A pale hand with slender long fingers stroked the young boy's cheek, the mouth of the stranger stretched into a creepy yellow smile._

"_Such a shame…a pretty thing like you, if you only knew what's hanging above your head" The hand moved to stroke his hair "It sickens me to think that you'll become one of the many victims"_

"_Sir…"_

"_It's because of your name, and what it represents…Such a terrible shame…"_

_Sasuke held his breath, this man was really scary, maybe he shouldn't have left his safe house, it was really, really dark! Maybe if he asked nicely the man would leave him alone…_

_Sasuke thoughts were interrupted by a loud ringtone, the man seemed to snap out of the daze he was in and quickly grabbed his cell, before once again turning to him. "Now go home little one, the night is not a time for young children to be out and about"_

_Just as Sasuke tried to make a beeline to his house, a hand roughly grabbed him, turning him around._

"_My name is Orochimaru, by the way, it was a pleasure"_

_When Sasuke's hand was finally released he ran home the whole way, not ever looking back_

_Nobody at his home had noticed his absence. _

In the fourteen hours the flight lasted, Sasuke certainly had enough time to study his new identity. Suigetsu really had put much effort in it, there was no indication the passport was fake, the document which proofed he was born in Korea looked real enough too, he was in the possession of a credible green card, and Suigetsu even had provided him with a full biography.

He was seikou, Kohana or as the Americans say it, Kohana Seikou, 23 years old (want do you know? Aged two years in one day). He was born and raised in north Korea and had been blessed with a good education. He had two parents and a sister, all still living in Korea. Apparently his dream had always been to travel to America and he was glad he finally got the chance…

Yeah.

Suigetsu had provided all the needed documents, old school reports, fake-letters from family and even a photograph with people he didn't know in it.

But now that he was safely on American soil, there was another problem to attend to; unlike with Karin and Juugo, Suigetsu hadn't been able to get him a place to stay. Fortunately he did possess extensive knowledge of English and was in the possession of some American cash. So he just had to find a really cheap place to rent and an easy job. Luckily he had all day to find these two things since the flight had taken 14 hours _and _the time difference between the countries was 10 hours. He _did_ have all day, but god he was tired! Other than the little shut-eye he caught on the bus and the two hour doze off on the plane (he had been far too anxious for any real sleep), he hadn't slept in over 30 hours.

Hood up, jacket obscuring the view of the Uchiha symbol that was sewed on the back of his shirt (all his shirts) and his duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Sasuke swiftly made his way out of the airport, luckily he didn't seem to attract much suspicious looks, though why should he? This was America after all, he really should stop being so paranoid.

First order of business would be to find a place, so Sasuke walked straight into some shady bar and walked to the not-so- friendly-looking bartender.

"Can I ask you something sir?" Sasuke asked (very politely, just like his mother had taught him)

The bartender, obviously used to being addressed in rude and crude ways, looked up surprised -he seemed to be about his alias's age, around 23, maybe 24- before his face became a scowl once more.

"Got any questions? order, I only help customers"

Sasuke could barely hold back a nasty remark as he went to sit down and ordered a whiskey (now that he _was_ going to order, it should be something good).

Thirty minutes later, Sasuke had managed to get the addresses of several cheap flats, three phone numbers from three different people and an explanation why a bar was open at one O'clock in the afternoon and was already serving hard liquor.

An hour later and Sasuke was walking through a fairly normal looking neighbourhood (unlike the dangerous looking ones he had just come from), and entering a fairly normal looking flat.

Two hours later and Sasuke was standing in the middle of a one bedroom tiny, tiny, _tiny_ apartment, having just found his place to life for at least six months.

Gotta love America.

The black haired male, dumped his only bag on the bed and emptied it. Three shirts –all adorned with the Uchiha crest, therefor useless- one pair of jeans, a bottle of sleeping pills, a silver ring, his traveling documents, a pack of smokes, a prepaid cell phone (only to use in emergencies), and, most importantly, a small handgun; like hell he was going to give up the one thing he could protect himself with. Everything else he owned were either still at the mansion or were left behind at suigetsu's. So, he had some serious shopping to do, and it was essential he found a job quickly, the money he brought from Japan wouldn't last forever.

But first he was going to rest, it wouldn't do any good to go out job-hunting looking like something that had died in a ditch a long time ago, shopping could wait too. With a heavy sign, Sasuke kicked of his shoes and removed all his clothing until he was standing there in the middle of the room clad in only boxers. Carefully he lowered himself on the bed, the many bruises and cuts still hurting, and crawled under the –probably not so hygienic- sheets. The bed was different that he was used too, it was hard and uncomfortable, small too, but Sasuke didn't care, because nobody would be able to get into his room, he wouldn't be shocked out of his sleep by a rough hand descending on his mouth, he didn't have to be afraid to close his eyes.

So, for the first time, in a long while, the black haired youth fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

The bottle of sleeping pills untouched.

The following week went by with a lot of frustration; though he managed to buy a whole new wardrobe for little money, he couldn't find a job. It wasn't surprising really; the economy wasn't going well, and there were a lot of unemployed people living in Boston. There was also the fact that he was a foreigner and most contractors had no trouble pointing that out, it was the most disgusting form of discrimination, but again, it wasn't surprising: Boston had enough people without jobs and they probably saw him as someone who moved all the way from Korea to steal jobs away from hardworking (American ) people.

Hardworking, who were they kidding?

He had never seen a more undisciplined bunch, Sasuke was almost shocked at the total lack of professionalism he saw sometimes. But, of course, it _was_ a verydifferent culture, one he didn't really understand and could irritate him to death ( kids boosting about how bad their grades were, as if this was cool, a construction worker _turning_ and _whistling_ at him while balancing a heavy beam across his shoulders, numerous cars _honking_ at a traffic light, like that was going to speed things up!).

Absolutely no self-control!

But still, this _was_ the place the current bullies of Japan didn't have much access too, this was the place that's seen as a great power by the rest of the world, this was the place he was safest… They must be doing _something _right, ( a very fat woman just walked by, wearing a miniskirt and a belly bottom top) but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what that _something_ was!

But… Sasuke supposed that, although sometimes strange, the people here _were_ mostly really nice; if he was searching for something and looking around, almost always someone would come to him and ask him if he needed any help.

So, it was a week after his arrival in the states, that he was led into a cosy looking bar-café named Icha Icha Paradise (Sasuke actually winced as he saw the name, but, as previously hinted at, he was _desperate_, so he still went in) Sasuke nodded his thanks to the man who had pointed him in the right direction and entered the building.

The raven made his way to the counter where a pretty looking girl stood, hair a surprising shade of pink and eyes a clear green. He would've thought this combination to be ridiculously ugly, but it really suited the girl. As he came to stop before her, her eyes immediately shot to his and she offered him a sweet smile.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for employment" Sasuke said to her "I was told this place is looking for new people"

* * *

><p>All was peaceful in the Philadelphia police department, several man and woman were perched on the various seats and desks, talking and laughing, birds could be heard chirping outside mixed with the muffled yells from the prisoners sitting in the cells a room further<p>

Aah Peace.

"Get OUT of my office NOW, Uzumaki!"

CRASH

A very angry Naruto Uzumaki marched out of his more-so furious boss's office, letting the door fall behind him with a loud BAM! His normally cheerful and happy face now looked irritated and angry, a deep scowl adorning it.

"WITH PLEASURE!" The blonde yelled out before continuing his march – walking past his surprised and gawking colleagues- angrily out of the big room.

He had put all his free time in this job! In this _case_! Who the hell was his boss to just take it away from him! His reaction had been totally normal, he had almost _solved _it for Christ sake! The blonde detective stomped (still very angrily) through the garden and sat himself down on one of the benches. Stupid, idiotic, mean, _evil_ old man! He could so handle this case, he just needed another chance!

He had not expected this, alright he hadn't expected to be praised for his latest actions – he had destroyed _a lot _of private property _and_ assaulted a criminal (paedophile!) who had already surrendered- but certainly THIS was too extreme! HE could DO this case, he could've been the one responsible for sending the sick bastard to jail, it would've been fucking sweet too!

"So I'm guessing you got kicked off the case?" A familiar voice spoke up behind him.

Naruto didn't look around, even if Kiba hadn't spoken he still would've known that the man was standing right behind him; they had been friends since elementary school -when Naruto still ate buggers and Kiba blushed every time he saw a girl- they knew each other inside and out. They were partners too, had joined the force together; they were just such freaking good buddies (though often the obliviously happy and outgoing blonde could get even on Kiba's nerves).

"Worse" Naruto ground out, still very much pissed off

Kiba sat next to his friend "Worse?" he questioned, looking at his friend with surprise "What do you mean? You didn't got _fired_ right? Though… it would probably make sense, you DID break that guys nose, dude…"

"Someone had to do it! The creep was bragging and shit, don't tell me it didn't piss you the fuck off!" You see, when our blonde little friend gets angry, he uses nasty curse words, when he uses nasty curse words you should really watch out; blonde idiots are very violent.

"Dude, we're the police and stuff, we're supposed to be objective and shit. Like, _I _wanted to ram his nose into his brain but I used something called restraint and therefor didn't gave some paedophile a free ticket to sue our whole department."

"S'not like he going to get far with that!"

"No, but it could hurt the case"

…

…

"… I'm an idiot"

Kiba slung an arm around his bestie "That, my friend, you are! Now what kind of punishment did the old geezer gave you? You know, besides kicking you off the case?"

"I'm being transferred"

"You're being transferred? That not so ba…WHAT! YOU'RE BEING TRANSFERRED? WHY? WHERE'S THAT OLD JACKASS! I'M SO GOING TO…"

"I punched the creep in the face, caused 5,000 dollars' worth of damage, yelled at a colleague, yelled at a federal agent, yelled at the old man when he told me I was off the case… Plus my previous record isn't spotless…"

Silence

"Wow, you're like the worst cop ever…"

"Thanks, dude, means a lot"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry and shit. But seriously, where are we supposed to go?"

"We?"

"Dude, I totally ain't going to stay here with these boring ass people while you're away, If I try to crack a joke in there I get all these _glares_"

"Thanks, that _really_ means a lot-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't go all mushy and stuff, I'm allergic to that. But where do they still want YOU?"

"Boston."

"Boston?"

"Boston."

"Dude, we're screwed."

* * *

><p>I hope I portrayed that a little, like, Japan strict! America defenitely not!<p>

My friend has been to America, and she says the people on the street are super kind! So I kindoff used that...

We both are yet to visit Japan, which I want to do too, I want to travel all over the world...!

But you all probably don't care that much about that...sorry

anyways... I hope you enjoyed, and see you next time!

OW! Almost forgot! Please review! Because I get all giddy inside when you do!


	3. Bottles of Alcohol

I do not own everything! Really, I don't!

Thanks for the reviews, the're awesome!

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 3 <em>**

**_Bottles of Alcohol_**

_Sasuke wasn't afraid of the dark, it was just that monsters who only came out when it was dark couldn't be trusted._

_Yeah, he had no problem with the inky darkness that surrounded him._

_Really._

_What? What was that? A sound… A scary sound!_

_Just stay calm_

_It was so dark…_

_There! Again, a sound, like 'knars, knars'!_

_Sasuke froze_

_From under his bed?_

_Was it under his bed?_

_Sasuke bolted to his door, reaching for the knob and wrenching it open. Dressed in his teddy bears PJ's and clutching his teddy bear tightly he made his way to his parents' bedroom. He could barely make out his mother under the sheets of his parent's bed, his father wasn't there._

"_Mommy?" His soft voice called out "Mommy, there's a monster in my room"_

_His mother didn't answer him, and Sasuke made his way towards his mommy, when he was next to her his small hand came up to shake her body._

_No reaction._

_It was then that Sasuke saw the small container with pills next to his mother. His mommy had explained to him that they were magical pills and that when she felt down she took them to feel better and go to sleep. This wasn't the first time the young boy had seen those pills lying next to his mother and every time he saw them his mommy would sleep for a very long time._

_Softly the seven-year-old padded out of his parent's room, he would go to his daddy for help. His daddy would know what to do about the monsters, his daddy was really brave._

"_Daddy?" Innocent eyes looked into his father's office _

_Tired and red eyes looked back between a window of messy hair, body slumped over the desk, an empty bottle in one hand, the other resting on the red forehead and even though Sasuke was only seven years old, he figured that his daddy was fighting his own monster too._

"_Go back to bed Sasuke"_

"_I'm afraid, daddy, there's a monster in my room"_

"_Don't be silly, child, you're an Uchiha, now go back to bed, out of my office"_

_Sasuke did as he was told, the last thing he saw before closing the door was his father grabbing another bottle. So there he stood, before his bedroom door, cold and alone, he was _so_ scared to return to his room! What if the monster was waiting for him? What if when he entered a big hairy creature would attack him? And no one would hear him because everybody was asleep? _

_He was really scared! _

_He didn't want to get eaten by an evil monster!_

"_Sasuke, what are you doing up so late?"_

_Off course, how could he forget_

"_An evil monster? Don't worry, I'll sleep in your room, no one will hurt you when I'm around!"_

_His big brother would always protect him._

"_Sleep well, little brother"_

_Itachi was his greatest hero._

Sasuke gave a poor man who was obviously drinking his troubles away another glass of scotch, before tending to another man who was dangerously staggering on his chair, telling a pretty girl some story about his great adventures. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Sakura already cleaning the tables, signalling that they would close in a few minutes, the three people the only costumers left this late on a Tuesday night. The raven haired boy gave a sign of relief -it had been a long day- as he could feel his body protesting to the strain of working so long. Not long after, the pretty girl left; laughing as she tried to help her friend stay on his feet and she bid them goodbye, Sakura enthusiastically replied back, she had told Sasuke she liked these two; they were recurring customers. Now the hard part, the poor depressed man was leaning on the bar, head in his arms, muttering incomprehensible things in a sad broken tone. The man had poured his heart out to Sasuke earlier in the evening, he had been fired, his wife wanted a divorce, his two children were angry at him. You know, the clichéd problems people who went to bars had.

"I w-an-t 'nother one, p-pretty raven~!" The man wailed, his face still down, forehead pressed to the cold surface.

Sasuke signed "You've had enough, stop acting so pitiful, I'll call a cab to bring you home."

At this the man's head shot up "But Kohanaaaa! You're always so –hick- so cruel t-to me!"

"I'm helping you get home safely, that's not cruel, I could just as easily kick you out onto the streets and leave you"

"Please one m-more drink-!"

Ten minutes later, a cab stopped in front of Icha Icha Paradise, Sakura and Sasuke both guiding the man to the vehicle, since he could no longer stand on his own two feet.

"So that's it for tonight" Kakashi told them while locking the Icha Icha Paradise's door, appearing out of nowhere. After he had been absent for four hours "Let's have a drink to celebrate!"

"Where have you been?" Sakura asked him amusedly "Isn't the boss supposed to be present while we're open, not closed?"

"I had very important boss-things to do!"

Sasuke snorted "Sure you did" while placing three glasses on the counter "The day that you actually do a lick of work in this place is the day Sakura admits pink isn't her natural hair colour." He filled the glasses with light beer, remembering that he wanted to think clearly while walking home; although his neighbourhood looked safer than some, didn't mean it _was _safe.

Kakashi glared "Is that any way to talk to your boss?"

"But he's right!" Sakura laughed good-naturally "Except for my hair part, This is my natural hair colour, you know? You're just jealous!"

"Yes, because I've always wanted pink hair"

"No respect for elders these days" Kakashi grumbled, while both him and Sakura went to sit at the bar opposite of Sasuke. "I should fire you both"

"Aaah you wouldn't do that, you love us too much" Sakura pinched Kakashi teasingly on the cheek. "Inside you're nothing but a big softy!"

"Besides" Sasuke smirked, watching as his boss downed the drink in one tug "you need us, who else would run this place while you go off flirting with everything that moves or lock yourself away in your office with your dirty books? Maybe we'll show a little respect if you were on time for once?"

Kakashi poured himself another "That man was right, you're too cruel" He muttered into his drink.

Sasuke had been working in that place for two months now, after he had asked the pink haired girl (Sakura) for a job opening, she had let him to the back room, where a thirty-something man was seated head buried in a book; Kakashi, weird, silver haired, scarf-over-mouth-wearing, hair-obscuring-right-eye Kakashi. It was exactly the type who would come up with such a ridiculous name for his bar-café. Kakashi had looked him over once (Sasuke had passively stared back) and asked for his name ("Kohana seikou") and then, without further questioning, Sasuke had been hired.

Just. Like. That.

Sasuke had thought the place must've really been in desperate need of new personnel, which had been true; Sakura had later told him the previous bartender had been fired because of indecent remarks and indecent exposure ("The last one who worked here? He kept wearing belly bottom shirts and wouldn't stop talking about people's privates! It was a creep, I punched him really hard"). Upon later reflection, it wasn't any wonder not many people wanted to work in the place, Kakashi was a_ horrible_ boss; not that he was mean, no, he really was very nice to them. But he made you work like a dog, while he himself did absolutely_ nothing_. Kakashi was never there when Icha Icha Paradise opened, instead he would always stroll in three or even four hours later, he would just disappear in the middle of work and let them handle everything, he would flirt with all the attractive costumers, even the ones that were obviously with someone else; most of the fights in the place were caused by the _boss _for crying out loud!

So yeah, Sasuke could see why people hadn't been too keen to start working there, but Sasuke supposed it was alright; Kakashi never questioned him about anything in his past and Sakura, with her bubbly but fierce personality, had become a good friend. Icha Icha Paradise was an small bar and café, it opened around eleven in the morning, serving various cakes, sweets, sandwiches and drinks for the people strolling in when they were on break, this was the café part. At seven it would close for about two hours, giving Sasuke and Sakura some time to recuperate before the bar part of Icha Icha paradise began at nine; various people strolling in to have a nice time, become seriously plastered or to dink their troubles away. They closed around half past eleven, by that time Sakura and Sasuke would've been completely spend, having worked for a lot more hours a day that was strictly legal. Sasuke had had a hard time trying to adapt to this new way of living, but he was an Uchiha, so he adapted quite easily, all the while not showing Kakashi and Sakura any weakness on his part. But it was a nice job, Sasuke guessed, it didn't pay a whole lot, but enough for him to be able to stay in his little apartment he had rented. Also, being employed there had some upsides; it was a fast way to get to know different people, a lot of costumers came there frequently, this way he could experience the American culture and therefor he could fit in better. Another thing that put Sasuke at ease was the fact that every Friday night a few local policeman came to this place to relax, granted; Sasuke had freaked the first time he saw the uniforms, but none of them seemed to be there to cause trouble, and Sasuke had reminded himself that he wasn't in Japan anymore, that he was now in America. So it couldn't hurt to befriend the local policemen, it couldn't hurt to have some powerful friends.

_Besides, before he could truly relax and start a new life for himself, Sasuke still had something he had to do. _

Not long after they closed the place, the three went their respective ways, Sakura entering her car and driving to her apartment, which was a really nice place; he had been there a few times, she rented it together with another girl, Ino. Sakura had told him that her lifetime dream was to become a doctor, but her family wasn't rich and there were financial problems. That's why she was working there, in Icha Icha paradise, so she could safe up money for her studies. She would probably enrol at the end of this year, to learn to become a doctor.

Kakashi stayed at Icha Icha paradise, he had a room above the place. Yeah really; he lived _above _the café-bar but he _still_ managed to be late.

Every. Single. Day.

Sasuke himself walked to the bus station -since he didn't own a car anymore- got onto the bus and was home in a proximity 10 minutes.

Tiredly Sasuke opened the door to his apartment, inside he tossed his keys on small table, and he grabbed a bottle of sake from his kitchen counter. This was how he liked to end his day, with a little bit of his own culture, he moved the bottle to his lips.

It was surprising how hard it was for him to be someone else, he hadn't expected being 'Kohana' was so difficult, he wasn't Sasuke anymore…

He wasn't an Uchiha anymore.

Sasuke snorted.

He was a sentimental fool.

* * *

><p>Naruto wasn't happy about having to return to his birthplace, he'd always had a burning hatred for Boston. As soon as he had turned eighteen he had gotten out of there, together with Kiba who had wanted to see more of America. Off course, having been two of the most annoyingly loud and obnoxious children their neighbourhood had ever seen (playing pranks on <em>everybody<em>), most had been happy to see them leave. The only good thing about Boston was that his foster father lived there; Iruka.

So there he was now, together with Kiba. They would stay with the man (who had a big-ass house) 'till they found a living place for themselves. Granted, they could've found a place without much effort but Naruto knew his foster father would like them staying with him for a while; it had been such a long time. Iruka was a real mother hen, he enjoyed cooking, sewing and taking care of children (he was a social worker and part-time teacher at the local elementary school ) and the nicest person Naruto ever had the pleasure of knowing. Iruka never judged someone; he always gave everybody a chance and never believed nasty rumours. This was why he had never believed the many rumours that had flowed around Naruto, making Iruka the one and only person that had been willing to take the blonde in when he was only six years old.

And now he was back. If anything, he had missed the kind hearted brown haired man a lot. It had been a joyful reunion, Iruka had embraced both men with enthusiasm and asked their ears from their heads. Off course, Iruka had also scolded Naruto for his behaviour which got him transferred (Though Naruto could see Iruka did understand his actions) and told him to act according to protocol with his next job. Which would start the following day.

"So, Naruto, make sure you're polite and nice to everyone, okay?" The brown haired male told his foster son "That also applies to you, Kiba! " waggling an accusing finger towards his son's brown haired childhood friend.

"Don't worry about me, mister U!" Kiba yelled "I've got everything under control!"

They were sitting in the nicely lit living room, all on incredibly comfortable chairs, it was already eleven O'clock and Naruto could feel himself getting tired. Iruka hadn't permitted them to just do nothing the week before they had to head into work; the never ending list of chores that needed to be done in his father's house had been… well, never ending… It was as if Iruka had let everything pile up until they would arrive, which was probably the case.

"Don't worry, old man, I'll be fucking mo-"

"Language"

"Ow yeah, sorry; I'll be freaking mother Theresa tomorrow!"

Iruka signed "Somehow I doubt that, you have a history being impulsive and rash"

"That's so unfair! And untrue! I'm, like always, really nice and polite and shit,-"

"Language"

"Ow yeah, sorry. But I'm like a good person! Kiba back me up here!"

"I don't know dude, you can be very stupid…"

Naruto glared "And that calls himself my best friend" Then he piped up "I'm not worried; everybody will love me! Because I'm awesome! And handsome! And SEXY!"

Kiba laughed. "There's the Naruto I know!"

Iruka sweat dropped. "I'm really worried…"

"Everybody will be blown away by my total awesomeness! Look out bad-guys NARUTO UZUMAKI is here! LOOK OUT BOST-AUW!" Naruto was swiftly shut up by an empty bottle (lightly) tapping the top off this head, one eye closed, Naruto looked up at the culprit. Only to see his foster-father standing beside the blonde's chair smiling softly down at him. "Just make sure you behave… Don't let them insult you" Another (soft) tap on Naruto's head and Iruka walked towards the door "I'm going to bed, don't stay up to late; You've got a busy day tomorrow and I can't wake you, I've got an really early appointment …"

Naruto jumped off his chair "I'm not twelve anymore! I'm TWENTY-SIX! I can take care of myself"

"Naruto, dude, You do realise you're yelling at a closed door?"

"…I'm mature…and awesome…"

"Whatever dude, just make sure that tomorrow, you're on time too"

"I'm never late!"

He was late.

He was late, he was late, he was late he was late he was late, LATE!

Stupid Kiba, Stupid fucking selfish Kiba!

They had an appointment with the head of their department at ten O'clock… Naruto had awoken a quarter to ten; only fifteen minute to shower (he reeked of beer), cloth himself, get his banged car to work, flirt with the pretty girl who happened to walk by and drive to work.

So, yeah, he had overslept! When he had awoken there had been a fucking post-it stuck to his forehead, tantalizing text on it written by Kiba…

_Better three hours too soon than a minute too late._

_Love, Kiba_

That. Bastard!

Naruto raced through the streets, He still had five minutes! He could make it! He just had to drive really fast and hope he didn't get involved in some crazy accident! It didn't matter that he opposed all the traffic laws (Yeah, he _really _was a cop, can you believe it?). He. Had. To. Make. It.

Iruka would kill him if he didn't…

So Naruto's car literally flew through the road, his driving as dangerous as in those live-action movies were the hero tries to shake off the bad guys…only to ram on his break when the traffic sign turned red (the driver behind him nearly got a heart attack, but managed to prevent crashing into the blindingly orange monstrosity of a car)

Then he honked at the red light.

Somewhere a raven haired young man signed in defeat.

Eventually Naruto managed to barge into his new boss's office at five past ten, only to find a face palming Kiba already there, standing before what Naruto assumed was their new boss; a sleeping busty blonde woman lying face-first on her desk, bottle of sake in her right hand, drool dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Naruto already liked her.

"Dude, should we wake her up?" Kiba whispered

"I don't know…You're an asshole by the way"

"Dude, this is our boss, she's _drinking_ and _sleeping_ at ten in the _morning_. No wonder they wanted us, it can't get any worse here!"

"Kiba, you don't know that, maybe they're really good…"

"_drinking _and _sleeping _and those are_ gambling chips_!"

"I think I'm going to like this place!"

"Dear god in heaven, where the hell did I end up? Did you notice how easily we got inside? Almost no security!"

"Shhh! You're gonna wake her up!"

"She SHOULD be awake!"

"But she looks so peaceful…"

"Naruto, I swear to god…"

"Wow, her body's really nice, you noticed that?"

"Yeah, I did, Kind of hard not to notice…"

"Do you think they're real?"

"Dude, off course not, just look at the-ACK!"

And without ever seeing it coming, Kiba was hit by a perfectly placed punch, which catapulted him right through the glass window. Mortally wounded (not really) he came eye to eye with the most scary woman he had ever seen in his whole life.

Naruto didn't try to help his friend, he didn't shout for the woman to calm down, he didn't try to make sense of the situation.

He was too busy clutching his sides in laughter.

* * *

><p>Thanks for reading, again, if I made some major spelling errors you can always point them out!<p>

I hope you enjoyed! If you did, please review! If you didn't; you may review too, there's always room for improvement!

Because reviews are awesome, really!

But anyway, I'll probably update again in a week or so, I'm trying to be consistent with my updates, like, once a week.

Oh and now I must go, I'm all kinds off nervous; I get to hear if I passed my exams this week.


	4. The unit

**I do not own Naruto or any of the caracters, they belong to their rightfull owners.**

**Back again, sorry for the somewhat late update!**

**I seriously love everyone who updated! Thank you!**

* * *

><p><strong>chapter 4 The unit<strong>

_Sasuke was lying in bed, silent tears streaming down his face. He gingerly touched his right cheek, it throbbed and hurt very much. It would most certainly bruise and everybody at school would want to know how he got it._

_What should he say?_

_He had never been slapped before, he hadn't even known that he was about to be slapped before it happened. His mommy had always told him that children should never be hurt by adults._

_So why? He didn't understand! He had just forgotten to take of his shoes in his excitement to show his grandfather –whom he almost never saw- his report card, he hadn't expected them all to be so incredibly angry!_

_A soft knock roused the little boy from his thoughts "Sasuke honey? Are you awake?"_

_Silently his mother appeared in the doorway and moved to his side next to the bed. She gingerly lifted her hand and touched his burning cheek, he winced, but her cool hand felt strangely soothing. _

"_Are you okay?"_

"_Did I do something wrong, mommy?"_

_A sad smile appeared on his mother's face "You just have to be careful around your grandfather, Sasuke, can you remember that?"_

_Sasuke nodded, seeing the slight guilt in his mother's face._

"_Is big brother still angry?"_

_His mother smiled and bend forward to kiss his forehead "That is nothing for you to worry about, my little genius" He blushed profoundly at the 'genius' nickname "You grades were very good, honey, we're very proud"_

"_Daddy too?_

_She smiled her mommy-smile "Yes, especially daddy"_

_And when she had left his room -probably to talk to her other son- Sasuke, sitting in the dark, couldn't help but wonder that if his daddy really was proud of him… Why didn't he ever praise him like his mother and brother did? Why didn't he come to his room at night and give him a kiss on the forehead? Why didn't he scream at his grandfather, just like his brother had done, when the old man's heavy fist made a highly visible bruise on his youngest son's face?_

_Didn't his daddy love him?_

Sasuke was not happy.

"Geez, I didn't realize you lived in such a dump"

Sasuke glared at the pink haired girl "We can't all have rich friends who pay most of the rent" Angrily he put a mug of coffee in front of Sakura, who was currently sitting at his kitchen (and dinner) table. "Besides I didn't arrive here with much money…" Sasuke himself took his place opposite of Sakura, enjoying the smell of fresh coffee. I was still too hot to drink, though.

"You're poor?" (Sakura took a sip)

"I wasn't in my country, but you know, different money value and whatnot" ( Sasuke took a sip too…His mouth was instantly on fire)

Good, stay vague

"Still, this neighbourhood can't be really safe!"

"I'll manage"

"But this place is filthy! I mean not your room –which is actually the cleanest room I've ever seen, are you an obsessive cleaner or something?- but this flat is, I saw a rat in the hall!"

"Sakura, please stop your complaining, you're ruining my mood"

"You were in a good mood?"

"Why are you here?"

"Well, you have been to my place often enough and you're always so secretive, I was curious."

Sasuke signed, the surprise visit from Sakura this morning hadn't been something he enjoyed, he had tried his hardest to keep people out of his personal life (he had always been strange like that) but she had forced her way inside and promptly started to insult it. Sasuke had been in a good mood too! But he was now nothing but irritated… he really couldn't handle criticism well, he'd always been like that; a true perfectionist, though he had never been as hard-core about it than the rest of his family. But yeah, by American standard, he sure overdid it. So there they were at his kitchen table in his (small, Sakura had pointed out several times) apartment, enjoying a nice cup of coffee and not having to work for another two hours.

"Why are you really here? It couldn't just have been your curiosity, you never wake before half past nine unless you have too and you were at my place at eight"

Sakura scoffed "You're far too perceptive for your own good, do you know that?" She stated "Well, if you're so good at reading me, then tell me, why am I here?"

He looked disinterested her way and took another sip of his steaming hot coffee (how the hell was she drinking it so fast?)"Your date yesterday didn't go well, I suppose? So you're depressed and decided to bug me"

"Aaah" Sakura slumped, and bonked her head on the table "How do you know these things? Do you have a sixth sense or something?"

"Just logical thinking, Sakura, nothing else" Another sip (his tongue was scorched!)"So, what happened?"

"He was really cute… I was having a perfectly good time. But… then he left in the middle of our date…" Sakura grumbled, head still resting on his ugly table.

"What did you do?"

At this, Sakura shot up, het hands supporting her weight on the table "What makes you think it was my fault?" Sasuke just gave her a look "Alright.. I might've… did something…"

"You yelled at him for no apparent reason did you?"

"No I didn't! It was his fau-"

"And then you hit him…"

"Well, I just thought-"

"…really hard"

"Aaah" She slumped in her seat again, and her head collided with the table with a loud 'boink'

"It was a misunderstanding, I went to the ladies room and when I got back he was talking on his cell…" now, only her head shot up from its position "All friendly and cute! I heard a woman's voice and did you know what he said to the person on the other line?"

Sasuke glanced at his pink haired friend "I really don't care…"

"he said 'I love you'! those words! So naturally-"

"-You overreacted"

"-Well, yeah, I got… pretty pissed. But then… I found out that, well…"

"It was his sister?"

"No…" Again, her head disappeared in her arms "His mother…"

Sasuke stood up to fill their coffee mugs again (this time he would finish his before hers, damn it!), before taking his seat in front of the girl again. The pink haired girl always had the worst luck with dates, she never seemed to get farther than the first or second date before her violent and jealous personality would get the better of her, in the three months he had known her… She had more ruined dates than Kakashi. And that was saying much. It wasn't that most didn't think she was pretty, Sasuke mused, it was just that most couldn't handle her.

He smiled. She and Karin were quite alike, maybe that's why he had become so fond of the pinkette in such a short amount of time.

Not that he would ever let her know that. Never.

"Why are man such pussies?" Sakura mumbled "One little slap to the face and they're gone!"

"Think about this; if _you_ went to a first date and you got slapped and yelled at, would you go on a second?"

"I guess not… How about WE hit it off, eh handsome?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him "What do you think"

"No way"

"Aaaah, come o-one~!"

"You've already asked me twenty-six times!"

"Pfff, be a spoilsport, I just really, really need to get back on the horse, so to speak… it's been a long time" Sakura whined "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"When was the last time you.. you know… did the deed?"

"And this is your business because…?"

"I'm curious! I'll tell you how long it has been for me!"

Irritated, Sasuke stood up, clearing the table "It's still none off your business, and I don't care about you're apparent 'dry-spell'"

She really was something, Sasuke mused, from the outside she seemed all cute and shy, but when you got to know her better a different side of her personality came to light, an aggressive, curious, evil side.

"We have to head to work soon"

They were an odd bunch, which was saying much, considering Naruto didn't easily found someone or something odd. But this new unit he belonged too was certainly something else, every single one of them was not normal. Of course, Naruto being quite odd himself, found this situation incredibly awesome; though his crazy boss was someone to look out for considering she had punched his best friend through the wall because of a simple dumb comment.

And Naruto knew very well he was the master of those; it had easily could've been him.

Eventually, it _would _be him.

But still, she was totally badass, crazy beautiful and actually pretty nice (if you exclude the part of her personality that compels her to punch men through windows). Her name was Tsunade and she was their official chief.

But she was just the beginning… Next came another bat-shit crazy woman, obsessed with weapons and was actually busy _licking_ a knife when they were introduced. She looked innocent enough though, with her cute little buns on top of her head and her small stature , but she really, really, wasn't; the things she _possessed_ (and excitedly showed them); spears, knifes, all sorts of guns, poison, he seriously had no idea where the hell she pulled it from, her being so small and all. Just like Naruto and Kiba would be partners, this woman/girl was also partnered with another. Her partner was named Lee and he was seriously suffering from the worst case of ADHD Naruto had ever seen. Which was saying much, considering he was seen as the most energetic kid in school when he was younger.

Then there were Gaara and Shikamaru. Gaara, a large man with surprisingly bright red hair and green eyes was definitely the brawn and Shikamaru, a skinny, lanky but genius man who liked to hack computers was the brain. They made an odd police-couple, but they were surprisingly competent when looking at their track record.

But Naruto was really happy to see Shikamaru; they had known each other in high school; both him, Naruto and Kiba had belonged to the few people who had been marked as 'outcasts' because they had been totally awesome!

But in all seriousness; Shikamaru WAS totally awesome; he could crack any computer, could hack any system; he had already been able to do amazing things in high school (hacking the grade system for example) and the blonde had no doubt that his old friend had improved his bad-ass skills in the time between school and now; the world should be extremely happy Shikamaru was a cop and not a criminal.

So that was it, their little group of detectives, an odd little group Kiba and Naruto fit right in. Which they did, quite good. It had already been a whole week and the two had yet to make a fight! This was quite extraordinary since they had both managed to annoy everybody on their first day with their old job. Naruto especially like Shikamaru (well duh) and Lee (you just couldn't not love that guy… Kiba disagreed). To be honest; both Gaara and Tenten scared the living crap out of him.

So when it was Friday evening and their shift was officially over, Naruto was glad that he got this job, although it still sucked to be back in his birthplace; he was content with the way it all turned out; his father had welcomed him back with open arms, he lived far away from his old neighbourhood, and his job had nice people in it.

"Are you going with?" Shikamaru asked him and Kiba as they prepared to leave.

"With? What are you talking about dude?" Kiba answered

The man moved into an even more slumped stance"…eh I've already explained… troublesome…" a bored looked accompanied his winey voice with such convincing exhaustion Naruto realised that his old friend hadn't just perfected his computer skills since high school.

"Youthful FRIENDS!" Lee "The week as ENDED! So we'll depart to the lovely bar two measly blocks from here! ICHA ICHA PARADISE!"

"Icha Icha paradise?" Kiba and Naruto shared a look, that name was _awesome_.

"Yeah" Tenten who had previously been polishing her giant machine gun, suddenly appeared behind Naruto. Obviously, he was startled, so he let out a manly scream ("dude, you scream like a thirteen year old high school girl!") "We go there every week, it's quite cosy and nice! The boss is an old friend of Tsunade's booty call!"

"YES!" Lees continued his rambling "It's always NICE en COSY an FANTASTIC there! And the personnel are all so very LIVELY an YOUTHFULL"

"So you go there every week?" Naruto asked Tenten, all the while completely ignoring the crazy now-spandex-wearing nuttcase.

"Yes we do, It's relaxing after a stressful week"

"YES THE HOME OFF MY BEAUTIFUL CHERRY BLOSSOM! ONE DAY SHE WILL RETURN MY GREAT YOUTHFUL LOVE!"

"What the _hell_" Kiba looked a bit nauseous "Is he rambling about? And what is he _wearing?_"

Tenten giggled "He just gets a little overenthusiastic about a certain girl who works there"

"DON'T WORRY MY SWEET HUNNYBUN! I'LL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY TO PROTECT AND SERVE YOU!"

"I doubt she needs any protection" Gaara muttered, when they all exited the station. The cold night sky biting in their skin. "Just a few days ago, I'd been notified that a certain someone broke a guy's nose"

"MY SWEET WAS PROBABLY ONLY PROTECTING HER PURITY WITH STRENGTH SO GREAT IT MAKES HER MORE LOVELY, YOUTHFULL AND-"

"_Please_, stop talking" Kiba groaned

Lee stopped, turned, walked towards Kiba, slung his arm around his shoulder, and exclaimed with the loudest voice possible; "YOU'RE RIGHT NEW FRIEND! LET'S NOT TALK…LET'S SING ABOUT YOUTHFULL LOVE!"

Kiba paled "No…please…no!"

"CAN YOU SEEEEEEEEEEE THE LOOOOOVEEE TONIGGHHHHT!"

Kiba turned to Naruto "Please god no!"

"I'm sorry Kiba… You know me…"

And the whole way to the café was accompanied by two voices singing Disney songs, one of singers in the most tone-deaf way possible.

Yeah, Naruto really liked Lee.

…

"Finally here!" Kiba exclaimed as they stood before the bar, he couldn't listen to those two for a second longer, he quickly opened the door, the others piling is as well, and looked around the place.

It was nice, it had a certain homey feeling to it and pleasant music was playing on the background. Kiba could see why those other detective liked this place so much.

"Welcome, welcome!" A grey-haired man with his face half covered by a scarf yelled from his position behind the bar. "I see our favourite costumers are back! O and you brought new faces?"

Naruto pales, oh no, _Kakashi_

Tenten smiled sweetly at the man "Hello Kakashi, yes they are new recruits all the way from California!" They all moved to the bar and took a seat.

"California? O such a nice place! I've been there before, in my younger years of course!"

Tenten looked around herself "No offence Kakashi, but it's pretty rare for you to be working… Where are those other two?"

Kakashi smiled "No offence taken, dear Tenten" He pointed behind him "They're in the back, doing inventory"

"Ah, I see"

"So…" Kakashi turned to Kiba and Naruto "How do you like the new job? I can't help but be surprised that you two have become responsible for maintaining the law, as you two used to break almost every law when you were younger…"

Damn, they both winced, Kakshi had recognized them… He had been their old chemistry teacher when they had still been in high school, he had also been one of Naruto's neighbours in the neighbourhood he always terrorised. Naruto wasn't surprised to see the man here, with such a different job; he had always done that; as soon as Kakashi became bored he'd look for another occupation. Naruto remembered the stories Kakashi always told them; about what kind of jobs he had participated in… but not all should've been believed, Kakashi could hardly really have been an astronaut or cowboy.

"Eh… You remember that…?"

"I sure do boys, and by the way; you still owe me a new grass mower."

"Yeah…sorry about that time…"

Not long after that they all ordered their drinks, and had a mighty good time talking and laughing with each other; Naruto and Kiba were forced to cough up a few stories from their 'bad-boy' days, and soon enough everybody got into talking about their youth.

As Naruto was in a deep conversation with Lee about the use of spandex Kiba looked around, noticing a voice and the fact that the back door was opening.

"Kakashi, you aren't slacking off are you?" A sickingly familiar voice spoke out "We can't find the-"

And then Kiba's chocolate brown eyes met with a bright green.

And he paled

"Naruto! We have to get out of here! It's Sakura!"

"Wha-?"

The girl stood there for a minute, before recognition flashed through her eyes.

"YOU TWO!"

* * *

><p>Sasuke and Sakura had both been surprised when Kakashi came to work that evening and declared that he would do bar duty, of course, everything had a reason… This time the reason was inventory.<p>

Inventory. The chore from hell.

They had to count and record every single thing and it had to add up too! Normally they should've had all day for this grand task but of course Kakashi chose to inform them on the last possible moment and they had to really step up to still finish the task on time. So no, they both weren't very happy.

"326 little bags of sugar"

"15 bottles of whiskey"

"I see… one…two…three plates here, we should add that up by the ones we've already counted"

"Alright…"

Sasuke looked up, there, on the highest shelf were still various bottles they had to count.

"Huh, that's strange…" Sakura whispered

"What?"

"I can't find the crates of beer I had shipped in yesterday…"

"Crates of beer? I saw Kakashi carrying some a few hours ago…" Sasuke looked up again "Maybe they're on that upper self…"

He got a ladder and carefully climbed it, reaching the before mentioned shelf, he looked around it.

"…I think I found Kakashi's secret porn collection."

"No crates?"

"No" He looked away, slightly nauseous "But now I'm pretty scarred for life" _more so than he already was._

"Alright" Sakura got up "I'll go ask him"

Within seconds Sakura had moved to the staircase and was by the door, Sasuke had also climbed down the ladder and was safely on the ground. He grabbed his discarded notebook with all the information on it and moved to count the various bundles of napkins just as he heard Sakura open the back door.

He had just counted his third napkin when he heard a voice upstairs screaming something, followed by the door swinging closed with a loud bang.

Then…

"YOU TWO!" Sakura's furious voice…

The raven looked up when various screams and thumbs reached his ears; it was as if someone was being chased, then various more screams, then a loud BANG.

Guarded, Sasuke quickly grabbed for his bag he always had in arms reach, and he pulled his small handgun from the bottom, sliding it into the back of his jeans, and pulling his shirt over it. It sounded like Sakura knew those people she was attacking, but he couldn't be careful enough… in a few quick but careful steps Sasuke had walked up the staircase and reached the door, from that position he could hear the panicked voices loud and clear.

"Sakura, please calm down!" That was Kakashi

"Let me GO! I'm gonna kill them!" Sakura's angry voice…

A few more stumbles and a loud excess off breath, then, another unfamiliar voice;

"Don't let her go! Keep her restrained!"

"AUW! You bit my hand!"

"Kiba run! She's free!"

Sasuke thought this might me a good time to see what was going on, so he opened the door, just in time to see a glimpse of golden hair and blue eyes before a heavy body slammed into him. With the added weight he could feel himself (and the idiot who had so blindly run into him) falling backwards, which wasn't very good, since falling backwards meant falling down a flight of stairs.

"KOHANA!" "NARUTO!"

Sasuke winced as his back made contact with the steps of the stairs, the body above him knocking the air out of his longs, he let out a startled breath of pain and he could feel strong arms encircling him and reversing their positions, so luckily the second time they went down the other body broke his fall. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally stopped falling, having arrived at the bottom of the stairs. They plopped down with a dull thud, Sasuke on top of the other person. The raven let himself lay there on the solid chest for a moment, hearing his own and the other man's sharp gasps, before a voice reached his ears.

"You o-okay?"

_No of course he wasn't, he just fell down the freaking stairs! He sure as hell was lucky his gun hadn't gone off!_

Sasuke slowly moved his head up, as he heard several feet running down the stairs and screaming his (not really his) and the other guy's name, and then he looked straight in the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

He could already tell this guy was a freaking idiot.

* * *

><p><strong>So, they finally met! How exciting!<strong>

**I had a hard time writing this one... so if you see any errors; be sure to tell me please!**

**oh and R&R! Reviews are golden (and awesome too)**

**BTW; I passed! YAY!**


	5. A Sandcastle, A Letter And A Flask

**Another Chapter! **

**Thank everybody for the wonderful reviews!**

**I don't own Naruto**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 A Sandcastle, A Letter And A Flask<strong>

_One day, in the midst of July, several weeks after he had met Orochimaru, Sasuke was playing in the park, his mother having a busy conversation with another mother and therefor hadn't noticed her son was no longer in sight._

_Sasuke had just been quietly trying to build a sandcastle when he was rudely interrupted by an annoying voice._

"_Who're you?" _

_Sasuke glared at the white-haired kid who dared to interrupt his precious playing time, at home he always had to study, this was the only time of the day he got some time to have fun and this stupid kid had to disrupt it!_

_He would just ignore him…_

"_Whatcha doing?"_

_Ignore_

"_How old are you?"_

_Ignore_

"_Can't you hear me?"_

_Glare_

"_Are you deaf?"_

_Some more glaring (couldn't this kid take a hint?)_

"_You're pretty"_

_ATTACK!_

_Years later, Both boys would still have fond memories of their first encounter, rolling over the playground; little fist trying to hit each other, shouting, yelling, calling names, too far away from their parents to alarm them that there was something happening. It wasn't until they were both completely spend, both lying down in the dirt, looking up at the sky, that they finally stopped their pointless (and unnecessary) fighting._

"_You're a jerk" The white haired kid informed Sasuke_

"_Am not! You're stupid!" Sasuke informed the white-haired kid._

_Silence came over the two, both looking up at the white clouds which obscured the blinding sun._

"_I'm Sasuke"_

"_I'm Suigetsu"_

_And thus, Sasuke met Suigetsu and Suigetsu met Sasuke…_

"_Let's be best friends forever, Sasuke!"_

…_And they became friends with surprising ease._

_From that moment on, the two were practically joined at the hip, always with each other. They did everything together, from lessons to fishing trips to trying to improve their fighting skills (they did that a lot)They were together so incredibly often, that even Fugaku noticed it. _

_So Fugaku did what any good father would do upon discovering that his previous friendless son now had a best friend; he forbid Sasuke from ever seeing the boy again._

_His reason; The boy didn't fit the Uchiha standard/norm._

_In other words; Suigetsu wasn't good enough for Sasuke. _

_Now Sasuke was a smart kid, he noticed things around him with an incredible ease._

_So he noticed; Itachi was lonely, burdened by all the pressure his father lay on him, his mother was lonely too, so consumed with the chores she had to complete, so busy trying to be the perfect wife. Even his father was lonely, always trying to act in the best interest of the Uchiha clan, he was always trying to please the head of the family, his father, the current owner of Uchiha Corp._

_Uchiha Corp - The organisation that was still loyal to the current government and that protected south Japan from the rapidly growing rebellious organisations._

_Fortunately, the feeling of being alone, the feeling of loneliness, that feeling… Sasuke was spared from it. _

_Because he met Suigetsu._

_So he wasn't giving that up…_

_This was the second time the young Sasuke defied his parents' wishes. Off course now that they couldn't hang out at Sasuke's house anymore, the two boys had to find another place to play. Since Suigetsu had informed the raven haired boy that his mother had passed and his father was a 'raging asshole' and he had the bruises to prove it (they both didn't know the meaning of 'asshole' but Suigetsu knew a lot of those mysterious words, his dad said them a lot) Suigetsu's house was out of the question too. _

_Luckily, Sasuke had an awesome uncle, one that always brought him (and Itachi) presents, one that wasn't as stiff as the rest of the adults in Sasuke's life, one that could be really goofy, funny, unorganised and sweet. _

_Naturally, this uncle had been thrown out of the Uchiha family a long time ago, so he was ignored by most, especially Sasuke's grandfather couldn't stand him, the man had even ordered his whole family to flat out ignore the man…always._

_This was the only rule Fugaku ever broke, Sasuke's father loved his family more than anything, he wanted to preserve the family honour with all his might. But banning contact between two individuals who were practically strangers and banning contact between two family members were two completely different things to him. Sasuke had heard his father rant about his grandfather's decision many times, when the male had thought his youngest son to be asleep, and even though the head of the clan had ordered no-one of the family to establish contact with the banned family member, Fugaku still let the man visit his family twice a year and provided him with financial aid whenever needed._

_After all, Obito WAS his younger brother, and older brothers had to protect those. _

_So, Sasuke had an awesome uncle, who was more than glad to pick the two kids up from school and keep them in his house for a few hours. After that both boys would return to their own homes, Sasuke's excuse for being late was simple; he told his parents that he helped out after school, said parents, who never saw the white-haired runt in their house again, immediately believed his story, never doubting that their son always told the truth to them. Suigetsu didn't really need an excuse, his father would always be lying passed out on the sofa when he arrived._

_So really, at seven and eight (Suigetsu was eight) the two were already little scheming masterminds. _

_Well, maybe not masterminds, but they were pretty damn smart. _

Not long after their tumble down the stairs, Naruto and (especially) Sasuke had been wrestled into a chair and told to take it easy, even though Sasuke had reassured everyone he was okay just as many times as he had accepted the idiots apology for the whole mess (which was a lot). But no, apparently they didn't think he could determine for himself if he was fit enough to continue to work, even though he was perfectly fine and able to do that.

So what if he was sometimes a little lacks in tending to his own bodily harm, he could decide for himself if he was wounded or not, damn it! But no, Sasuke had to 'take it easy', Sasuke had to 'heal his wounds', Sasuke shouldn't 'be pressured', so basically SASUKE had to sit in a chair listening to some blabbering idiots apologies -which were never ending by the way-.

"So what's your name anyway?"

Joy the blonde had finally stopped with his annoying pledges of regret, but that didn't make him any less of an idiot, Sasuke's aliases name had been shouted and called numerous times in the previous dramatic hour.

Hm _usuratonkachi_.

Sasuke knew what the cop's name was; Naruto, and apparently this guy was one of the two Sakura had been trying to kill sixty minutes ago, Sasuke had no idea what Sakura could have against those two, but he highly doubted that she really hated them; when Blondie took a tumble, her voice had pretty desperately called his name. Then again, now that all was well, she's still sending both Naruto and the brown haired guy (Kira, Kina…Kila?) those extremely vicious glares. She was probably holding back in light of tonight's events.

Sasuke took a sip from his water.

"Kohana"

"…I'm Naruto"

"I know, I heard"

Those oh-so-blue eyes were taking him in yet again, the one thing this Naruto had been doing more than apologising was staring.

At him, yes indeed; very creepy.

And then the man's mouth opened once again, only to baffle him with the nonsense it spewed.

"This a great place you know that? In California I also had a place I always drank, oh! Oh! This one time this really fun thing happened! I was with Kiba there and I drank WAY too much, and my boss was being a complete-"

They were sitting in a little corner of the bar, Naruto's friends in an animated conversation a few metres from them, Kakashi and Sakura working hard to cope with his absence (which was wholly unnecessary), so there was nothing to distract Sasuke from the blabbering idiot in front of him (he couldn't for the life of him understand why Kakashi had seated them so…closed off) and Sasuke was pretty pissed off, he hated when he was treated like this; like he couldn't do anything, like he was some wounded animal. He much rather suffer pain in silence than ask someone for help, it made him feel weak, and if there was one thing Sasuke hated, it was feeling weak. But even though he was all pissed off and prissy, the black haired boy couldn't deny that although the blonde idiot was in fact an absolute idiot, he still was very good looking. Sasuke hadn't had the time to properly look at the other when he had been crashing down the stairs, but now, looking at the other guy in the shine of the candle that was placed on the table (when did that happen?) he could see the blonde's golden hair, the amazingly blue eyes that reminded Sasuke of the sea, and a great fit and tall body, shirt shaping tightly over muscled arms.

Sasuke didn't really know his own sexual orientation, his life had been to hectic to really understand what he felt and how he felt. He had been forced into several relationships with men as well women, he also hadn't been a virgin for quite some time now, but he had never really associated those encounters with his real feelings. In all his life he had only really enjoyed one kiss with one person, _one time_. He actually didn't really care, man, woman, he could admire all.

He could admit to himself that Naruto Uzumaki was pretty damn hot.

But he also knew that Naruto Uzumaki was pretty damn annoying and oblivious to his frequent death stares, which was quite a feat; not many could ignore them, certainly not upon coming across his famous glares the first time. But this guy seemed completely oblivious to his silent hints that he should shut the hell up

"-And when he saw his car! HA! You should've seen his face! I mean it was EVERYWHERE, Kiba and I couldn't stop laughing and then- Hey where are you going?"

Sasuke, tired of sitting there, had gotten up "Fresh air" and grabbed his coat in a fluid motion while turning to the exit. He just got his bruised right arm into his sleeve when Naruto answered him.

"Oh! Fresh air! I'll go with!"

And so the blonde got up too, grabbed his arm "Let's go together!" and forcibly dragged him towards the exit, all the while smiling like the world was a place full of rainbows and lollypops. Sasuke himself was so surprised that someone dared to treat him this way (hadn't the blonde seen his vicious looks?) that he was already outside before he kicked the other in the stomach so he could free himself.

Which he did.

"ACK!" The blonde clutched his stomach "Damn, you can kick…hell"

Sasuke smirked (it was fun to kick people twice his size) and leaned on the wall behind him "Next time you'll know that you shouldn't manhandle me"

Naruto looked at him wide-eyed "So you CAN speak more than two words at a time! I've been wondering for a hour now!"

Sasuke looked away, annoyed "Hn… I just didn't want to interrupt " his eyes caught his surroundings; it was pretty damn dark and not many people were out and about, in fact, they were the only ones outside. It was pretty damn cold to, Sasuke realized, moving his hands into his pocket.

"I know right! My stories are super awesome-"

"They were idiotic"

"What? They weren't!" Naruto moved to stand beside him, also leaning on the wall, which wasn't a good thing; seeing that Naruto standing beside him only made him look smaller.

"My stories are awesome!"

Delusional freaking giant.

"Hn"

Sasuke kept looking straight ahead, the fresh air was doing him good, the cold night's sky numbing the pain caused by the many bruises that covered his body, the tumble he had made had been very unlucky; some old aches were acting up. He hadn't been comfortable sitting there in the bar, Sakura's and Kakashi's sharp eyes on him, nobody should ever be concerned about him. Sasuke was so deep in thought, that he didn't notice the eyes trained on him.

Naruto had never seen a more attractive being, he realised this when looking from the corner of his eyes at the other.

Kohana.

Naruto still felt guilty for the fall he had caused, he couldn't get over the fact that he had hurt this extremely gorgeos and frail looking boy, that he had almost crushed the pale body with his own clumsy one. He could still hear the little gasp off pain the other had made when they had come down for the first time. Though it had been the only sign of pain Naruto had seen in the other; Shortly after the raven haired boy looked fine, and told everybody that he was fine. Though this was hard to believe; it had been a hard fall and Naruto himself was aching all over the place. The only reason he wasn't wailing about it was because the other hadn't done so.

And so it would mean losing serious face.

But, yeah, the other seemed fine, other than the fact that he felt compelled to glare Naruto to death every six seconds, which Naruto thought was kind of cute; like an angry, pissed off baby kitten. Though, Naruto thought rubbing his aching belly, This cute little kitten packed quite a kick, and probably a punch too.

But the raven intrigued him, those dark eyes and locks, that fierce and stubborn personality (it had taken the pinkette and the old man all their power to make the possibly concussion suffering youth sit down) and Naruto hadn't met anyone like that…

And those eyes… deep poles of secrets and erotic pleasure, bottomless, beautiful. Yeah, Naruto was smitten. Hah, smitten on the kitten.

He seriously cracked himself up sometimes.

But anyway, after making sure the other had heard his forever lasting regret about the recent happenings, Naruto couldn't help but try to impress him with his awesome stories and witty remarks. Which never- ever failed, because he was charismatic like that!

But it had failed, the other had told the blonde god of entertainment that he was _boring_ which wasn't very nice! So now he was standing next to this very good-looking person, freezing his butt off trying to think of a way to impress his lovely kitten.

Of course, he was enjoying the view very much too, heh.

Then Naruto noticed something; a slight (very slight) tremble in the way the other stood. "So… cold weather, right?" Naruto tried to start of a conversation

The dark haired boy was startled out of his thoughts and looked his way (Naruto was trembling violently from the bitter cold) "I guess" and then he signed, grabbing something from his pocket, a flask which he took a sip from and then, after a quick glance Naruto's way the raven passed it along to him. Naruto gingerly took it and after an experimental sniff actually took a swift swing from the whiskey (he discovered) inside, which warmed him up considerably.

"Do you make it a habit to carry strong alcohol at all times" He jokingly asked his dark companion, which he quickly got a glare for, and the flask was snatched from his hands. Red lips once again took a sip from the hard alcohol and Naruto tried his hardest not to stare.

After that the flask was passed between them several times, and both weren't that cold anymore. A comfortable silence came upon them and Naruto couldn't help but think this was the strangest first encounter he ever had with another person.

"So… how long have you been working here?" Naruto tried to start a conversation (again).

"Few moths"

"Do you like it?"

"I guess" another swig, dark eyes looked at him accusingly "If I'm not getting trampled by some idiot"

"yeah! I'm SO SOR-" A hand on his mouth stopped his sentence, and dark eyes bored into his.

"Stop apologizing! Geez, you really are an idiot"

"Hey!" Naruto screamed when the hand was removed "I'm not an idiot!"

"You're not?"

"No!"

"Then you sure do a good impression of one"

"You!" Pretty or not, this bastard really was an asshole, and insulting him too! "You are a Bastard!"

The raven took another swig, seemingly not at all affected by the insult thrown at him and passed it to Naruto again "Drink"

"No, why should I?" Naruto grumbled angrily

"You're trembling again"

"So?"

"You're cold"

Naruto took another drink.

It was only 2 hours later when Kakashi decided to close Icha Icha paradise early and everybody was kindly told to get the fuck out. Of course, Sakura wouldn't leave Sasuke the fuck alone about how he would get home. He told her that he could get home just fine by himself, but she told him that he shouldn't be alone while he was still hurt from the fall (he said he wasn't) and shouldn't sleep alone in case he had a concussion, because if he had a concussion, he needed to be woken up every two hours. So she offered for him to stay over in her apartment, which Sasuke really didn't want to do since her roommate was a girl named Ino, and she was scary as hell. This prompted the blonde idiot to ask where Sasuke lived.

Sasuke told him.

Naruto paled.

Sasuke was forced to be driven home by a stubborn Naruto and Sakura

Sasuke wasn't happy.

The drive wasn't quiet, Sakura and Naruto practically arguing about everything, he was seated in the passenger's seat beside Sakura, who was driving. Naruto residing in the back seat. Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how the two knew each other, not that it really mattered but still… They seemed to know each other quite well, but obviously something had happened between them. While silently listening to those bicker Sasuke discovered a few thing about the two; Sakura apparently really was a natural pinkette, they really went way back, like, middle school, Naruto was born in Boston, Sakura had been flat chested when younger, Naruto had messed up his job in California and Sakura actually harboured a secret hate for everything orange.

Sasuke was death tired when he finally entered his apartment, having convinced Naruto and Sakura that he was okay and that someone would be helping him if he had a concussion (last one, blatant lie) and after properly undressing himself, placing the gun on the nightstand and brushing his teeth, he let himself fall down unto his bed. Looking up at the ceiling, Sasuke let his hands wander under the collar of his shirt, tracing the pattern of the silver string necklace he was wearing until he reached the silver ring which had always been hanging close to his heart since he had arrived in Boston.

Naruto Uzumaki.

His hand clutched the silver ring.

Was not important.

Once Kohana had left the car, it had been eerie quiet in her car, not a comfortable one, both just didn't know what to say to each other. When Kohana had been there they had argued, probably to disguise both their true feelings. But now, when they were all alone, there was no hiding. Sakura cursed herself for giving the blonde a ride, but although she hadn't seen the other for a long time, she still _knew_ him. He had been drinking, and she couldn't let him drive home. When she finally pulled up in front of Naruto's place she hoped he would just silently leave, but she knew he would never do that.

"Ehm…Sakura…?"

Why wouldn't he just leave? Why couldn't he allow her to be mad at him? Didn't she deserve that much?

"Y-You look really well"

Yeah right, suck up to her why don't he?

"I mean really, really well! Your hair is all shiny and your kinda tan, and you have a smashing body! You really changed! It's amaz-"

"It's called growing up"

Naruto produced a nervous laugh, putting his hand behind his head in an o, so familiar manner. Before turning his head forward, staring off into space.

"Yeah I guess you're right..."

It grew quiet again, only the sounds from the animals of the night could be heard. It was beginning to get colder, but she didn't move. Although she told herself many times she should just push Naruto out and go home, forget about him altogether; his return didn't have to affect her life, She couldn't, wouldn't move.

Because her heart was still beating, beating in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.

Without realising, she had really, really missed him.

"I'm sorry" He broke the silence "I'm so sorry for leaving...I won't try to defend myself, I can only say that I was foolish...I should've never left Boston..."

Surprisingly, although she had longed for his apology a long time, at this moment she really didn't care about feeble words, she wanted answers.

"Why did you leave?" Her words must've sounded bitter, because Naruto stiffened, and his expression changed in a sorrow filled one.

"You know why"

"Was it really that bad? I know the people from our neighbourhood could give you a hard time, but still… I was there too" She could feel a lone tear running down her cheek "When you were telling everyone how horrible you had it here, did you ever think of me? Of Iruka? He might not show it but he's hurt too"

"I know" He clenched his fists, Sakura could see it, and it made her happy to see him in pain

"One letter; a few words, after all that time, after all I did for you, that was all you could give me?"

"I'm sorry"

It was genuine, but certainly not enough for her.

"…Get out"

He did.

Sakura quickly drove away, not wanting Naruto to see how hurt she still was.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank everybody for the wonderful reviews!<strong>

**You're all so wonderfully wonderful**

**Especially AnimeLover365 who helped me with some information about Boston, since I've never been outside of Europe :'(**

**I'll certainly use it! Although not in this chapter...**

**So yeah...hope you enjoyed. To be honest, this one was a bitch to write idk why...**

**But please R&R, and again; if I'm making some mayor mistake with something you are free to make fun of me, but if you're very nice you'll tell me too so I'll improve!**

**But... be gentle...?**

**Anyway...Fluffyfun91 (I'm really sorry about that name) OUT and see you next time.**


	6. The Orange Car

I do not own Naruto, nor shall I ever (sad, I know)

Chapter 6 The Orange Car

_Sasuke was curious; his father, mother and brother had been tense all week and they wouldn't tell him what was going on! They all told him he was too young and shouldn't concern himself! Him? Too young? He was a big boy! It wasn't fair and it sure wasn't right! Itachi wasn't an adult either and HE got to know all the secrets of the family! Sasuke wanted to know! Of course, the raven haired child was smart enough to not voice his complaints to his family, since they would ground him till forever, but Suigetsu sure got an earful. However, the grey-haired boy got so sick of the other's constant complaining that he promptly told Sasuke that he was sick of him._

_And thus, Sasuke's sulking began. _

_This continued for another few days, until one night, the young boy was awakened by a loud noise (Not so loud, just the door opening and closing; he was a very light sleeper)It was already twelve O'clock and it was rare (never happened before) that his family got visitors at this time at night. Also, his father had been extra sour that evening and Sasuke had a feeling that the reason why had just walked into their house. Sasuke silently got from his bed and his feet (silently) padded through his room, when he reached his door he cracked it open just a little bit, so now he could hear mumbled speaking-his father who was greeting the guest(s?) before he heard footsteps retreating to the living room. Sasuke tip-toed out of his room and through the hallway, and after a moment of pausing by the stairs, he started to descend. Step by step, he managed to avoid to staircase from creaking. Finally downstairs, the little eight-year-old slided open the door to the living room just enough so that he could peek through._

_There were three men he didn't know sitting opposite of his family, all sitting in a peculiar way; on their knees on the soft carpet, as was tradition in the older and noble families. His father, mother and brother just straightened from the bow they had made, mirroring the position of the other three men. _

_They looked funny, Sasuke decided, funny in a good way. They all seemed to have long shiny hair, reaching to far below their backs, all wore expensive clothing that even his father (who was very rich) wouldn't think of buying and all three of them had strange eyes; like they were blind, but not… They were blue, without a definite pupil, but not milky, no; extremely alert. _

_Yes, Sasuke -with all his father's preaching- knew very well who those men belonged to; But why were they in his home? Talking to his mom and dad, his brother?_

"_We welcome you all to our home" His father spoke up "I hope your journey was comfortable?"_

"_Your preparations were impeccable, as expected from Uchiha Fugaku" The oldest one spoke (and Sasuke glowed with pride; his father was so amazing~!) "We were very comfortable, everything seems to be in order here too. Have you had any trouble?"_

"_The rebellion has been growing, though we have been able to push any real threat down, there are a few groups growing in power; mainly the black soldiers, the yauza and akatsuki are causing trouble. Do you have any problems with the northern parts?"_

_The oldest one spoke again "Every attempt to bother the people of our fine country or overthrow the government has been suppressed before the beginning preparations could be made, our honourable leader sleeps safely." _

"_That's very good" His father told them, still speaking for the rest of the family; as was custom, Sasuke had been taught; in important meetings the one with the most power spoke. _

_So first his daddy, then his mom an then his big brother, as for the strangers; the big old one obviously was the one in charge. _

"_but if I may be so frank" His dad continued "I was surprised when I heard your request to come into my house for an audience…It is not custom, I am the middle child and therefor do not deserve the honour of having the current leader of the Hyuuga clan in my house. That right only belongs to my father. After that, my older brother…"_

_Sasuke gasped (quietly) THE LEADER? That was…such an honour! Suigetsu wasn't going to believe this tomorrow! _

_Yes, he had learned all about the Hyuuga clan; Just like his family they defended Japan, the northern part that is, where the most important government buildings stood an people lived. They were the most important police unit in whole Japan, even more important than the Uchiha clan! _

_Both clans had been collaborating for a long, long time; to ensure the safety of the Japanese people._

_Because he was only eight, Sasuke didn't really realise he was in quite a worrying situation; eavesdropping on a very important meeting._

"_We are aware of the protocol, and highly value tradition. But we are worried" Sasuke saw one of the other man's hand clench "Your father is old, and there is the matter of his legacy…"_

"_Problem?" His father questioned, eyebrows frowned "The title of the Uchiha clan's leader passes on to the oldest child, Madara will follow my father, I don't see the problem…"_

"_Now, now, Uchiha Fugaku, you are a smart man, surely you have heard the rumours…"_

"_They are only rumours, I assure you! I will not smear my brother's name!"_

"_Rumours have to come from somewhere, this is a delicate matter, you can't deny that your older brother is unstable… as your younger brother is not fit to even bare the name 'Uchiha'; meanwhile your father is old and dying and you, Uchiha Fugaku, are the son with the impeccable record, with the expertise and honour of a great man, with a wife and two sons, one of which we can already tell; he will be a great successor, when his time shall come." _

"_What are you telling me?"_

"_We, the Hyuuga clan, would like to recognise you, not Madara, as the next successor of the Uchiha clan. So that our country will remain peaceful and prosperous and those vermin who call themselves freedom rebels will never be victorious."_

"_Are you asking me to betray my brother?"_

"_I'm simply asking you to uphold you oath to protect and for fill your duty as an Uchiha"_

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Sasuke barely managed to grind out, seeing the blonde idiot standing there just after the three of them had locked up for the day.

"I came for YOU~!" The blonde shouted in his face, huge smile plastered on his face (that thing seriously never left). "I thought you could use a ride to your house again!"

Sasuke twitched

Kakashi smiled (perverted-ly)

Sakura glared -

- and walked briskly to her car "I'm going home" She unlocked the door "If you harm a hair on Kohana's head, I'm castrating you in your sleep, Naruto"

"I'm going upstairs too" Kakashi yawned (a very fake one) and stretched "Tis been a busy day!" Neither Sasuke or Sakura choose to respond to that statement, since their boss had spent the whole day in his office, and they really didn't want to know what exactly their boss had been so busy with… because that was just… Yuck.

Kakashi swiftly tapped his finger to Sasuke's nose (Sasuke had_ just_ been too late to bite the offending appendage clean off, not for lack of trying) "Now play nice children, don't do anything I wouldn't do!" and he turned around to retreat to his chamber above the bar, where he would undoubtedly be spying on the two men.

"See you tomorrow, Kohana!" Sakura shouted to him

"Your leaving me alone with the idiot?" Sasuke shouting back, the idiot standing there right next to him.

"Yes" She was already starting the engine "If he's annoying; aim for the groin!" and with screeching tires, she was off.

"SAKURA!" Naruto screamed after her "That's mean!" but she was already gone "She really can be violent… and mean…"

Sasuke frowned "I'll ask you again; what the hell are you doing here?"

Naruto blinked and turned to the raven haired boy "I already told you! I'm dropping you off at your place!"

"_Why?" _

"Haha" Naruto scratched the back off his head "Well I was in the neighbourhood and I thought you'd probably be ready with work,-"

"Your stalking me" Sasuke said as if stating a fact.

"NO!" Naruto shouted (again) the smile for once replaced by a determent expression (Sasuke had a hunch he would be seeing that expression as often as those damned smiles) "I just know you live in a dangerous neighbourhood and,-"

"So now your stalking me _and _calling me weak…" Sasuke shot the blonde a glare that would make the toughest of men scream for their mother.

Or in Naruto's case; Iruka.

"NO! Off course not I just thought… hey! Where are you going?" Sasuke had already passed Naruto and was determent to walk to his bus stop. The idiot had the balls to insinuate Sasuke needed any help with arriving home, unacceptable! Who the hell did the blonde think he was? Just because Sasuke wasn't some giant with bulging muscles and fist the size of melons, didn't mean he needed a white knight in shining armour to help _get him to his own freaking apartment_.

"Hey! Wait! Hot stuff!"

_Hot stuff? _The blonde could die in a fire! Idiot, idiot, idiot! Sasuke had his pride too! He was going to catch the bus home even if it killed him! Ah! There was the bus stop already! Sasuke looked up to see when his bus would be arriving.

His heart dropped.

"Wait a minute!" A annoyingly persistent voice yelled at him. Naruto's hand weakly (gently) encircled Sasuke's arm "I was trying to tell you –damn you walk fast for such a small dude- that the busses won't be riding tonight; there were some problems! I heard it this afternoon when I was working!"

Sasuke blinked "…They're not driving tonight?"

"No there not! So I was all like; dude, That ridiculously hot guy from yesterday wouldn't be able to get home! So naturally…"

"…You decided to drive all the way here to help out a guy you just met yesterday?" Sasuke huffed " That's pretty creepy, you know?"

"Well… I did kind off crush you yesterday, so I figured I owed you…"

Sasuke looked unconvinced towards the blonde, it _was_ a nice gesture… since it hadn't been some action taken because the blonde thought he was weak… Besides, how was he getting home if not for Naruto? It was a ten minute bus ride, so he could try to walk the distance, but…it _really_ weren't very nice neighbourhoods he would be walking through.

He _just knew_ he was going to regret this.

"Fine" Sasuke said in a clipped tone "I'll go with you, but only because we'll be even and you will stop bloody apologizing for yesterday."

As soon as the words had left his mouth a huge grin spread across Naruto's face, and he happily caught Sasuke's hand (just like the day before) and continued to drag Sasuke away (he really, really hated this man).

Though the hate he felt was swiftly replaced with absolute horror upon arriving at Naruto's car. No, Sasuke couldn't even call that god-awful thing a car; he had seen the obnoxious orange colour from a mile away and prayed that it wasn't the thing he would be sitting in.

But it was, and judging by Naruto's hope filled expression, he was most certainly expected to climb in the orange… thing.

Yes.

It was orange.

It was blinding.

It was dented.

It was a freaking piece of garbage and his father would turn in his grave if he knew Sasuke was even standing near such a thing…

Granted, after all that had happened with Suigetsu, _that bastard_, working in a café and Naruto, his father had already done a great deal of turning. One more time couldn't really hurt.

And to think his wish had always been to make his father proud.

"This…" Sasuke managed to produce

"This is my car!" Naruto practically cheered "Isn't she a beauty?"

"I've never seen such an awful thing…"

"NO!" Naruto looked scandalized, before he threw himself on his car and proceeded to make cooing noises "Don't listen to that mean man, my sweet, you're as beautiful as the night sky! As the stars who shine brightly in the dark! As the sun after heavy rain!"

"I was wrong…" Sasuke muttered "This is the most awful thing I've ever seen… or heard"

"Just get in the car"

And he did. Reluctantly. But he couldn't deny it was nice and comfy inside, the stil offended Naruto stepped into the driver's seat and he stared the engine, which started without any trouble (Sasuke sure was surprised) and just like that, they were off.

"So" Naruto said, keeping his eyes on the road "Tell me something about yourself!" The blonde was really curious about the boy, he had such a mysterious aura around him!

"What do you want to know?"

"You look Asian… are you a foreigner?"

"Yeah" The raven said "I'm from Korea, just moved here a few months ago…"

Korea? Where was that again? Naruto wondered

"Why did you move?"

"None of your business"

"Bastard"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You and Sakura seemed to know each other, did you grow up here?"

Naruto looked amusedly down at the bastard "Yes we did, Sakura too… and Kiba" he quickly moved his eyes to the road again when he saw the other's terrified expression ("watch the road!") "I was born in Boston, Sakura and I have known each other since we were little, we were really good friends. If I had a hard time, she would help me out and vice versa , A few years later we also met Kiba. We were inseparable. but when I was eighteen, I left"

"I see"

Naruto waited, but The raven wasn't saying more, surprised he again turned his gaze toward the other.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I left? Why me and Sakura aren't friends anymore?"

"It's none of my business" the boy answered "and keep your eyes on the road, Idiot, are you trying to get us killed?"

Naruto's eyes snapped back toward the abandoned road "what about you? Got any friend there in that faraway Korea?"

If Naruto's eyes hadn't been trained on the road he would've noticed the sad look the other adopted for a millisecond.

"Naruto…?"

"Yeah?"

"None off your business"

Naruto could only chuckle at that; Kohana sure was a piece of work.

Naruto really liked the guy, he was pretty damn beautiful, but smart too and wasn't afraid to speak his mind. Granted, he was a total bastard but Naruto didn't really mind, he found it sexy even; nothing wrong with a feisty partner!

Yes, Naruto, after just a few hours off really knowing the man (and a lot more hours of fantasizing) was head over heels for the mysterious and pretty boy who now sat at his side, glaring at random objects as they passed by.

"Where here" Naruto stopped in front of the shady flat, and killed the engine. He turned towards his new heartthrob with a big grin, people always loved those. "Home at last, eh babe?"

The look he received was priceless "What did you call me?"

"Do you prefer my earlier 'hot stuff'?"

"No I do no-"

"Or does 'pretty boy' suit you better?"

"What are you…?"

"Buttercup?"

"You…complete…!"

"Mr perfect? Mrs perfect?"

"…!"

"What about princess-AAH! You hit me!"

Indeed the boy had, pretty damn hard even. But Naruto found it just so damn fun to tease the other, to see that adorably fierce glare once again…!

…

Although, it was beginning to creep him out now…

…

Oh no! He was going to die!

"Call me your worst nightmare"

"No! Aaaah! Don't kill me!"

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto was at his home, nursing the huge painful bump on his head. Iruka was already off to bed, but Kiba was there; he always appeared when Naruto needed to be laughed at the most.

"Dude! He totally kicked your ass!"

"I know…aahh my stomach…"

"Kicked you there too?"

"I was trying to walk with him to his door"

"Dude this is priceless" Kiba laughed "The kid is half your size!"

"You have nothing to laugh about, Kiba! Did you forget you got beat up by a woman?"

"Dude, I didn't get beat up by a woman, I got beat up by fucking Tsunade! That's some other shit right there!"

Naruto had to agree (although it hurt him a great deal to do that).

"Kiba, he's amazing…"

Kiba yawned ("Damn it's late") "dude I know, you wouldn't shut up all day about that guy. Though I have to admit; if I wasn't as straight as a person could possibly be, I would totally top that"

"Be sure to not do that, I'll rip your balls off… he'll probably do that before I had the chance though…"

"Oh really…"

"Yeah" A soft smile graced the blonde's face "Kitten has claws"

"On another note" Kiba sat up straighter, eyes still shining happily and evilly "So it worked I presume?"

"It sure did" Naruto's expression had changed into an identical one as Kiba's. "Shikamaru did a great job with those bus schedules, scrambled them right up"

"Good" Kiba nodded "He owed you from all those times in high school you covered for him while he was gazing at clouds… Though he sure comes in handy"

"Yes if he hadn't done that, Kohana would've never accepted my ride."

"He sure wouldn't have, nobody would've; with your car"

"Hey, leave my car alone!" He defended his car "But your right, if Shikamaru hadn't done that I wouldn't have been able to complete my first step"

"First step?" Iruka's voice suddenly asked. Kiba blanched, but Naruto was to oblivious to understand what Iruka's voice would mean for him (his untimely demise), instead choosing to finish his sentence.

"Indeed, my ingenious plan, to make Kohana seikou, hottest person alive, fall in love with me!"

Kiba face palmed, not daring to look in the direction of Iruka.

"So let me get this straight, _Naruto Uzumaki_, after you pushed some poor boy down the stairs, you fell in love, and therefore proceeded to misuse not only your status as friend to force someone to do something extremely illegal, but also you status as detective so that you could mess with the schedules off today's busses. Making the poor boy's -who you so rudely flung of a flight of stairs- only chose to get home you and your driving style. Not to mention all the other people who got into trouble because of this! Furthermore, you want to make this boy fall in love with you?"

Crap.

Angry Iruka.

* * *

><p>Sakura silently tiptoed into her apartment, not wanting to wake Ino, who was probably long asleep. Though her efforts proved useless when she tripped and in her haste to stop from falling, grabbed the tablecloth. Which was draped over the table. The table on which a huge vase with beautiful flowers stood.<p>

Yeah.

Not long after, both Ino and Sakura were cleaning the mess off the floor. Ino all the while muttering things as 'clumsy idiot', 'stupid forehead' and 'bitch'. Sakura would normally scream just as many insults back, but she was embarrassed and figured she kind of deserved this treatment from her friend.

When the task was done, Ino crankily got to her feet "We have some pots and kettles over there too, and another priceless vase over there, if you're planning to knock them down too, please do it now, I going to sleep again."

Sakura thought this was a little excessive, it wasn't like she had done it on purpose "Don't be a bitch Ino" She got back to her feet and turned to the fridge, taking a bottle of orange juice and placing it on the –now tablecloth-less- table before tiredly sitting down on a chair.

"Yeah whatever" Ino went to sit on the table too "So, since I'm awake; how was your day?"

"Crappy, yours?"

"Absolutely fabulous"

"It was?"

"Of course, I just make everything absolutely fabulous" Ino flipped some of her hair from her shoulder in the most elegant way Sakura had ever seen someone do.

"You sure aren't making this evening anymore fabulous for me…"

"Cranky much?" The hypocrite said (who had _just now_ been a total bitch!)"BTW, how could your day have been crappy? You can check hot Kohana's ass out all day, I'm so jealous!"

"Kakashi was being a pervert"

"What's new?"

"And… Naruto came by again…"

"Oh, honey! Want me to kick his ass?"

"H-he offered Kohana a ride…it… it was" Sakura's voice shook "really sweet"

"Sakura…?" Ino slung an arm around her shoulder an pulled her towards herself.

"It was just so like him" Sakura managed to choke out

"I know honey" Ino gently padded her head "If you tell that idiot you don't want him around the café anymore, he'll listen to you, you know?"

"I know"

"So what's stopping you?"

"I don't know" She whispered.

* * *

><p>"So… Naruto?"<p>

"Yes?"

"Did you see Sakura?"

"Yes"

"Still mad at us?"

"Yes"

"What did she say?"

"She's going to castrate me in my sleep"

"Heh, sounds like her"

"I thought so too"

"_Hurry up, you slowpokes!" A small girl with bright pink her yelled to the two boys who were trying to keep up with her running, both heavily gasping for breath. "Catch me if you can!"_

_A equally small blonde boy creased his brows in annoyance "I'll catch you! Just wait!" and he bolted after her. The girl, laughing at the other's futile attempt at catching her –she was always the fastest- stuck her tong out at him and continued running. The blonde in fierce pursuit._

_Another boy, a brown haired one, was too weak to continue running and, wheezing for breath, let himself fall into the grass, opting to watch as the blonde wouldn't give up on catching the little girl. It was only when both the girl's and the boy's stomach started grumbling that they forgot about their play and walked back to the relaxing brown haired one (who was carrying the basket with snacks). All three sat down and began to eat their treats, but their peace was soon interrupted. _

_A furious looking man was running towards them, shouting swearwords and curses._

"_GET OFF MY PROPERTY!" He yelled "I don't want such a filthy child on my property!" His finger, shaking in anger, pointed at the small blonde boy, hate clearly in his eyes._

_The blonde boy shook in sadness, trying to stop the tears from surfacing; Why was it always like this? Why did everybody hate him? Was he really such filth? _

_But before he even had the chance to apologize to the other man for his very existence, the pink haired girl had stood in front of him, shielding his vision. He could no longer see the hate filled eyes of the man._

"_We're just playing!" She told the angry man, who blinked down at her, just realizing there were other children too._

"_This has nothing to do with you little girl" He sneered, trying to look around her "All I want is that filthy, disgusting-!"_

_This was the point the pink haired girl mercilessly kicked the grown man between the legs. _

_Hard._

_His anguished wails could be heard even when they were already halfway down the clearing, all three running._

_Hands locked._

* * *

><p><em>Hope you enjoyed it, took somewhat longer than normally, m'sorry!<em>

_(Though it's a little bit longer in size too! HAH!)_

_Feel free to tell me what you thought, good or bad!_

_So please, read and review!_

_Readers; I love them - Reviews; I love them – Hahaha just so you know;)_


	7. Vulnerability

**I do not own Naruto.**

**Thanks for the wonderful reviews!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 Vulnerability<strong>

_The sun was shining upon their heads, a gentle breeze shifted Sasuke's raven locks, but he didn't notice since he was currently participating in a staring contest with his best (only) friend, both too stubborn to admit the other was right. _

_Funny thing was, they both couldn't really remember what they were fighting about. But he did know it had been very, very important!_

_(if he could just remember what it was)_

"_I'm right!"_

"_Are not!"_

"_Are too!"_

"_Well…" Suigetsu yelled "You are just stupid!"_

"_Am not!"_

"_Are too!"_

"_Now, now boys" Obito appeared in the back door carrying a tray of sandwiches "Don't fight now, it's not necessary" He bent and set the tray of goodies between the boys, straightening up again "Now eat these up, and I don't want to hear you anymore…" His uncle smirked "I've got some womanly companionship in my house… Just play nice in the garden all right?"_

"_All right!" They both said in unison. Obito smiled at them and hurriedly walked back towards his house, obviously very excited about his female companion._

"_I'm vanished" Suigetsu said, taking a huge bite from the sandwich clutched in his hand and chewing loudly "These are great!" he told his friend, therefor spraying Sasuke with bits and pieces of bread because he was talking with his mouth full._

"_EEEW! Eat properly!"_

"_Yeah, yeah"_

_Sasuke looked at his friend, sitting there in the grass munching on his third sandwich now. The bruise and split lip on his friend's face a sharp contrast with the happy look he adorned. "Was your daddy angry at you again?" _

_Suigetsu swallowed his meal and looked a Sasuke with a surprised expression. "Whatcha mean?"_

"_Your face…"_

"_Oh yeah" Suigestu moved his hand to cup his bruised cheek "I did something I'm not supposed to do, so daddy punished me"_

"_Does it hurt?"_

"_A little" Suigetsu smiled and patted the raven haired boy's head "But only a little… I love daddy very much"_

"_My mommy said that grown-ups aren't allowed to hurt children… Grandpa got an earful when he did"_

_Suigetsu frowned "…My daddy said grown-ups are allowed to do whatever they want to their kids…"_

_Both looked into each other's eyes._

"_So which one is right?" _

_Several hours later, when both boys had parted ways and Sasuke was securely tucked into his bed, he still pondered this question. He didn't get it, why was Suigetsu's daddy always so mad at him? And why was his own father never interested in anything he did? Almost falling asleep, Sasuke was rudely awakened by an angry voice shouting downstairs, soon followed by a second furious voice. He knew immediately what was going on; His big brother and father were fighting again. He sat up and tried to block out the screams by putting his hands over his ears, but they were shouting really hard and nothing could keep out the vicious words and insults that filtered into his room. _

_But then something tapped on his window, and Sasuke looked that way, seeing nothing because of the closed curtains, he hurriedly hopped out of his bed and walked to the before mentioned window. He hesitated a minute before grabbing the curtain and pulling it open, only to look directly into grey eyes, Sasuke shrieked and tumbled backwards before he recognized the face those eyes belonged to._

"_Suigetsu!"_

_Yes indeed, the eight-year-old who was currently balancing on a tree branch, which was attached to a tree right outside his house, was Suigetsu. Sasuke quickly opened his window and let his friend in. "That's really dangerous" He told Suigetsu, secretly stinking jealous he couldn't climb trees like the other could "You could-!"_

_Sasuke was cut off by the other boy, who's small body had lunged and grabbed him, holding on for dear life. Suigetsu's knees buckled and both fell to their knees, the boy still clinging to Sasuke. Sasuke could feel something wet spreading on his shoulder and he realised that his normally tough friend was crying. Upon realising this he immediately wrapped his arms around the other's shoulders._

_Sasuke didn't ask anything, he didn't understand what was wrong but he instinctively knew he shouldn't call his parents and he shouldn't bother Suigetsu with hard questions, he should just keep holding his friends and try to lessen the quiet sniffles, which sounded so incredible eerie in combination with the shouting that was going on downstairs. _

_After what seemed like forever, Suigetsu finally stopped his sobs and just remained clutched to the other, head still buried in the raven's shoulder. Sasuke placed his hand on top of his friend's head in a familiar gesture. "Suigetsu…"_

_The broken boy slowly moved his head from it's position and looked up, grey meeting black once again. Sasuke had never seen anybody so incredibly sad. _

_A brief silence, and then… "Are you happy I'm alive, Sasuke?"_

The chase was on.

With screeching tires Naruto turned a corner at top speed, determent not to lose the other car he was chasing. The bastard was trying to escape and Naruto would have none of it, the blonde clenched his teeth in concentration when another sharp turn almost made him crash, he needed all his concentration to keep his car on the road. Beside him, Kiba grabbed his gun and leaned out of the open window. Two sharp 'Bangs' were heard but the other car was moving too much and Naruto could see that Kiba couldn't get a good shot.

And so the chase continued, high speed, until the fleeing suspect was forced to stop as another car in front of him cut him off. Naruto abruptly stopped their car too and both Kiba and him pulled out their guns.

"Freeze!"

Another good day, Naruto decided several hours later, the suspect safely behind bars after a rather speedy confession. After a whole week of working overtime he could finally leave the office early. Happy, he whistled to himself and decided to treat himself to something tasty at Icha Icha paradise. Something very tasty.

Yep, eye candy! Heh heh.

To Naruto's bitter disappointment Kohana wasn't easily courted, Naruto went to the bar every Friday night with his buddies (the other detectives) but he had yet to make any progress. Kohana would only acknowledge him if he ordered something and even then Naruto would still get those cold stares and that blank emotionless face. He had never even seen the raven smile. Which totally sucked of course! Though he had made _some _progress, every Friday night after closing time, Naruto didn't have to manhandle Kohana into his car anymore! He had obviously seen the great appeal in driving home in Naruto's car because the blonde was such good company! Or he was just sick and tired of resisting. Nah, Kohana had definitely seen the light!

But yeah, other than that…Nada. But Naruto wouldn't give up! He would keep going until he got what he wanted!

Grinning he stepped into the Icha Icha Paradise, which was rather deserted at this time and immediately he saw Kohana behind the counter. He saw that Kohana saw him too and the raven's eyes widened (awe at seeing Naruto's strong and beautiful body), his full gorgeous lips parted, (obviously because his mouth had gone dry with Naruto's own sexiness) and his fist clenched ( To contain his sexual urges) and Naruto saw that he was preparing to say something ("I love you, Naruto, please _take _me!")

"Oh no, It's _you_"

Well, alright he had been wrong about that last one, but Naruto was sure the others had been completely and utterly true.

(Still) Grinning, the blonde made his way to the counter and sat on the bar chair.

"How's it going, kitten?" He said in the most sexy and manly voice he could muster up.

"Bad. You just walked in." Kohana said "And stop giving me does horrendous nicknames, I'm never going to like one of them."

Naruto grinned some more, absolutely not believing a word that Kohana had said. "You keep telling yourself that, babe."

Naruto looked around another time, seeing that Kohana hadn't immediately pretended he needed to help other costumers the moment he walked in. And no, it wasn't because kohana secretly loved hanging out with him (as Naruto liked to convince himself) but the reason was fairly simple; there was only one other costumer in the place, and it was a middle-aged man with his head in his hands and quietly muttering to himself. It seemed like Kohana had found someone he found more disturbing to serve than Naruto…SCORE!

"Booming business, heh?"

Kohana looked up and followed his line of sight "That's a regular, won't stop whining about his life," He didn't even try to temper his voice. "He'll be waiting till I bring out the hard alcohol, which is in an hour. It has been like this for the whole week. "

Wow, a whole complete sentence! Kohana was really talkative! With this much costumers he must've been bored out of his skull.

"I don't see Sakura or Kakashi."

"Sakura's off, Kakashi's supposed to be here, but obviously isn't."

"So, you're saying… it's just yooouuu and mmeee."

"And Hank"

"Hank?"

"The regular."

"Oh, yeah, Hank…damn."

Kohana shot him an icy glare before turning around "What do you want to order?"

"Cappuccino… and a date with you, kitten."

"Cappuccino it is then."

Naruto signed, Kohana was really made of ice!

"Ah, come on!" Naruto whined "Throw me a freaking bone! I've been trying to score a date with you for weeks now!"

Kohana seemed to smirk at that. "Have you ever considered that you're just not that hot?"

"You're mean" A steaming mug was placed in front of him.

"I've been told that"

Naruto dejectedly sipped from his beverage and watched while Kohana disappeared from the counter to give 'Hank' another refill to his beer. He really was beautiful, in that mysterious dark way. Not long after, Kohana returned to his spot opposite of him and to Naruto's delightful surprise, it was Kohana who initiated the conversation.

"So why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be working?"

Just as Naruto was about to answer the door opened again and in came Kiba wearing a shit eating grin on his face. "HEYA NARUTO! I knew I would find you here, what was that all about, abandoning me with Tenten?"

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, just when he was alone with Kohana (excluding Hank) Kiba had to walk in and ruin it all. "I thought I should give you some privacy" He tried to hint.

Kiba, still grinning his ass off, moved next to Naruto and went to sit on the barstool. Then he reached into his pocket and slapped two bills onto the counter. "The biggest can of beer you have, Kohana, I'm in the mood for some serious victorious drinking!"

His eyebrows shooting up in question, Kohana moved to grab the drinks. "Victorious drinking? What happened?"

"I'm sure Naruto was about to brag about it, we had a huge breakthrough in our case today!" Kiba loudly exclaimed. Kohana's eyes shot from Kiba and then to him. "Breakthrough?"

Naruto was irritated, he had wanted to tell Kohana this! Maybe exaggerating his part a bit… So before Kiba could tell the love of his life anything else, he quickly interjected, "Yes! We caught someone who's part of a really sick group of rapists!"

Kiba nodded "Seriously, the sooner they're all thrown in the cell the better! Dude, they are totally sick."

Kohana raised his eyebrows. "Why haven't I heard any of this?"

"Silly Raven!" Naruto laughed "We want the media out of this and the people oblivious, so no panic can break out and the case stays on the DL! If it becomes really dangerous we'll warn everyone!"

"…Then…" Kohana looked at them if they were the biggest idiots alive "Aren't you supposed to keep it quiet, I mean, like, not telling me?"

"…" Kiba and Naruto turned to each other, realising how fucking stupid they were.

"Dear god," Kohana smirked. "and you wonder why you got transferred… don't worry, I know how to keep my mouth shut."

God, could he be any more amazing, Naruto contemplated while looking in those dark amused eyes, his panic instantly gone.

Kiba laughed "Hah! You're all right Kohana!" Naruto caught a look from Kohana that seemed to say 'see, _he _calls me by my regular name'. "So where are the witch and the scarecrow?"

"If you're talking about Sakura and Kakashi, they're both out." The raven seemed to hesitate before he spoke again. "Not that it is any of my business, but isn't it about time you talked to Sakura? Every time you two appear she turns into an ice queen."

They both shifted uncomfortably, then Naruto spoke up. "I try, every time I come here, it's part of the reason we come here" He winked at Kohana. "The other being you off course, sugarplum." He quickly had to dodge the punch that Kohana threw at him. "But she just wants to ignore us!"

Kiba nodded sadly. "Yeah, totally sucks, has she told you anything?"

"No, she hasn't. I've tried to ask, but I'm not doing more. You two have obviously done something wrong and you two should fix it."

Kiba waved his comment away. "Yeah, yeah, we know, we know" then he took a huge sip of his beer. "Naruto, you're drinking too! Let's, like totally, have a contest, dude!"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the antics of his friend, before looking apologetic to Kohana, who seemed to be ignoring the two of them in favour of watching the weather forecast on the little TV that hang above them. Damn it, Kiba was totally ruining his chances with the sexy raven.

"Come on, Naruto! Contest, contest! You can show the pretty raven how good you can hold your liquor"

Somehow, Naruto guessed that Kohana wouldn't be all that impressed with that.

"Come on, Dude!"

"Nope"

"…Chicken!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"All right! You're on! You're going down!"

"OH YEAH! Kohana!"

Kohana signed. "More beers coming right up"

* * *

><p>Lee was happily walking next to Tenten, they were currently in the prudential building, a large shopping centre in Boston. Lee and Tenten were partners, but they also hung around a lot outside of work, they had known each other for 5 years now, and from day one they had hit it off. Both were eccentric and a little strange, so they worked well together. Not in a romantic way, just in a 'best friends' way.<p>

Tenten coped with Lee's overly happy personality, while Lee accepted Tenten's weird weapon fetish.

"Where to next, Lee?" Tenten asked, looking at the purchasers they had already made. "What do we still need?"

"We already have such great things! Isn't this just such a youthful place, full of youthful shops and youthful people?"

Tenten laughed, then her eyes fell on a shop a little away "Oh, that shop has cute outfits! Let's go there!"

"A very good idea, my good friend! Those are CUTE! You'll look ravishing and youthful in those!"

People were giving them weird looks, but neither Tenten nor Lee really gave a damn (well, Tenten didn't give a damn, Lee was just oblivious). They went inside the shop, arms hooked and happily talking. But when they entered, Lee suddenly stopped in the middle of his sentence and halted, the grin falling from his face.

Tenten blinked and followed his gaze. Realization flowing through her.

Sakura Haruno.

The one person on this whole wide planet who could rob Lee of his ability to speak and make him a stuttering mess. Yes, Tenten knew perfectly well that her partner had a huge crush on the pretty pink haired girl.

"I-it's her…" He barely managed to get out.

Tenten smirked and briskly walked towards the pink haired girl who was (angrily) chatting with a her blonde haired friend (Tenten knew her only by face, she would sometimes visit Sakura on Friday night's). Lee, who's arms were still interlocked with Tenten's, was mercilessly dragged along (no matter how much he struggled).

"_What are you doing?"_ He whispered to her.

She just continued to smirk and called out to the two girls. "HEY, you two!"

Surprised, the two turned in their direction. Recognition filled Sakura's eyes and she smiled at them. A sweet welcoming smile. Tenten had always liked the pink haired girl.

"Tenten, Lee! Hello!"

Tenten smiled back, "Hey Sakura and…" She pretended to be shocked upon seeing the blonde haired girl. "You! Eeehm… Girl! What are you doing here? It's been so long! Long-time no see! Let's go chat! Catch up!" She swiftly let go of Lee's arm and attached herself to the blond girl's, already beginning to drag her away.

Sakura looked surprised at the retreating two, before shouting "I didn't know you two knew each other?"

Almost out of earshot, Lee could just hear Tenten shouting "Yeah we go way back!" almost immediately followed by Ino's (Lee did know her name); "Who are you?"

And then they were alone.

Just the two of them.

"Was my best friend just kidnapped?"

* * *

><p>"WE AAAARREEE THE CHAMMPIONSSSS! WE AREEEEE THHEEE CHAMPIONSSSS!"<p>

Sasuke winced at the unbelievably horrid singing that was going on in the back seat, as he manoeuvred through the streets and traffic, he tried one more time.

"Naruto, Kiba, Where do you live? What's your address?"

"YOU ARE THE LOOOSSSERRRR!"

Sasuke winced again, drunken idiots, if he had known they were this plastered, so plastered that they couldn't even remember their own address, he would've just abandoned them in Kakashi's room. But Kakashi was probably home by now, and would never let him in. not with these absolute idiots in tow. They really were idiots, not even knowing when they were at their limit with the booze.

Sasuke had to accept the inevitable, they weren't going to tell him were they lived, he couldn't dump them with Kakashi, he _certainly _couldn't dump them with Sakura and with the increased crimes in Boston he wasn't comfortable just leaving them at the side of the road.

Which meant, he had to take them in for the night.

_Fuck_.

He certainly wasn't comfortable with that, but what else could he do? He really didn't have another choice! Gritting his teeth, Sasuke turned the corner to his apartment, he was never giving those two idiots another drop of liquor! Once arrived, Sasuke let his head fall on Naruto's bright orange steering wheel and took a deep breath, the two obnoxious singers becoming background noise.

He was being a pansy, he knew that, but the fact remained that he didn't trust these two yet. He didn't even _really _trust Kakashi and Sakura .

Actually, The only people he truly trusted were scattered across the globe. Those were the only people he could let his guard down with, could be vulnerable with.

_Damn_

Not even a half hour later, Sasuke had managed to take the two upstairs to his apartment, where they both instantly collapsed on the bed, sound asleep. Sasuke removed their shoes and heavy clothing before pulling the covers over them. After that, he went to his kitchen and made himself some coffee.

After all, this was going to be a long night.

He was going to stay awake.

Because he couldn't possibly show vulnerability in front of other people, he was to be aware of everything, prepared to defend himself.

Be strong, don't trust anyone.

It really was the only good thing he had learned from _that bastard_.

* * *

><p>I hope you liked it! A special thanks to AnimeLover365 for telling me about the prudential building in Boston.<p>

It's come to my attention that I really, really need a beta, so I'll be looking for one, so that my writing can improve. Anyone got any suggestions for a good one?

But yeah, please read and PLEASE review, because I like them so much!


	8. Redheads

_Thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the long wait!_

_I do not own Naruto_

* * *

><p><em>She was a new girl in the grade, moved from some other city to theirs. She was loud, rash and a tomboy. She was different than any girl Sasuke had ever met before and he kind of liked it. <em>

_Too bad his best friend had a different opinion._

_When Sasuke would looked back, years later, he would realise that their whole relationship with Karin…It all started with a wet sponge in Suigetsu's face. _

_Anyway, on a sunny afternoon a few weeks after Karin enrolled, Suigetsu and Sasuke were sitting far away from the other children talking excitedly about Sasuke's upcoming ninth birthday. Both boys were excited because Sasuke always got the best gifts and they would be able to play with them together. _

_It was peaceful, it was nice. And then She came along._

"_Ahum" A light voice interrupted their important discussion about who was better; Spiderman or Batman. Both looked behind them to see a redheaded girl with an extremely annoyed expression on her face, that was all Suigetsu saw, though, because second after he had turned around…_

_SPLASH_

_He got a wet sponge thrown right into his face, courtesy of Karin. Suigetsu sputtered and yelled, throwing the sponge away from his face and shaking his dripping wet hair before jumping to his feet with an angry roar (a roar coming from a nine year old, thus a tiny squeak). _

_All the while Karin still looked pissed off and Sasuke was just confused… and amused._

"_What was THAT for?" Suigetsu yelled loudly, therefor gaining the attention of the other children a little away._

_The angry girl huffed and put her hands in her side. "That's for not showing up for cleaning duty yesterday, you meanie! I had to clean the room all on my own!"_

"_Cleaning duty? Who throws a sponge in someone's face because of stupid cleaning duty? Besides I didn't HAVE cleaning duty yesterday!"_

"_Yes you did!"_

"_NO, I didn't!"_

"_YES, YOU DID!"_

"_NO, I DIDN'T!"_

"_Actually," Sasuke decided to pipe up. "You did."_

_Suigetsu looked confused down at his friend, who was still sitting in the grass "I did?" _

_Sasuke nodded. "I told you five times, but you weren't listening."_

"_Oh." Suigetsu looked dumbstruck for a second, before once again turning to the girl. "That still doesn't mean you can throw a sponge at me!"_

_The girl turned bright red and clenched her tiny fists. "I can do whatever I want!" Sasuke noticed her fists were shaking. "This is the third time I had to clean by myself! You're all mean!"_

"_That's because you're a freak who throws sponges at people!" Suigetsu shouted right back, not really listening to what the girl had to say. Sasuke however, frowned, he and Suigetsu weren't popular in class, mostly because they held to themselves, only really speaking to each other. This was probably because of their upbringing; Suigetsu having an abusive father while Sasuke had an overly critical one. So no, they didn't really interact much with the other children their age, but that didn't really matter; they had each other. _

_But what about the red haired girl? Was she lonely? Was she being ignored? Bullied? Sasuke truly didn't know; he never paid much attention to the other children._

_Meanwhile, the girl and boy continued to argue and shout. They now were really gaining attention from the other children._

"_Teach the red haired freak the rules Suigetsu!"_

"_She's so stupid!"_

"_Lame Karin, ugly Karin!"_

_Children could indeed be very cruel. Sasuke almost felt sorry for the girl, Suigetsu obviously didn't notice the hurtful words slung at Karin, as he was too busy shouting them himself._

_Then, Sasuke noticed that a teacher was glancing their way. Sasuke quickly got up, his father wouldn't be happy if he got roped into Suigetsu's problems (especially because he was under the impression that the two weren't friend anymore), and grabbed his friend's arm. Suigetsu stopped in the middle of his shouted insult to glance down at him. "What is it?"_

_Sasuke gestured to the teacher with his eyes. "Teacher."_

_Suigetsu immediately understood and backed away from the girl, growling and a pointing finger at Karin. "This isn't over, freak!"_

_Yes, Suigetsu could be very intimidating, Sasuke mused as they quickly walked away from the girl, who had gone silent the moment Suigetsu had opened up his collection of really nasty swearwords at her. It was probably the reason the children wouldn't dare pick on them, why they didn't leave them hanging with cleaning duty; they were afraid of Suigetsu's foil mouth and confident attitude. Even at nine, these children knew; you don't mess with Suigetsu, what automatically meant; don't mess with Sasuke._

_The girl must have realised, the poor thing, Suigetsu really had let her have it just now. He said some nasty things to her and Sasuke realised that she also had understood that you certainly never, ever should mess with his best friend._

_Sasuke thoughts were interrupted when the same wet sponge connected with Suigetsu for the second time that recess. This time the back of his head._

"_No! It isn't over, albino-geek! It's just the beginning!" The red haired girl yelled, smirking. _

It was only seven O'clock in the morning when a loud knock stirred Sasuke's exhausted mind from his thoughts, the morning paper in his hands. He was still sitting at his kitchen table, a fifth mug of coffee in front of his nose. But even if he hadn't been in the possession of coffee, he hadn't need to worry about falling asleep; Naruto's and Kiba's snores were loud as hell. Sasuke walked to the door and opened, a very large red-haired green-eyed man met his eyes. Next to him stood a less gigantic (but still tall) rather shaggy man with a tired look in his eyes.

He recognized them, they were Naruto and Kiba's co-workers, Gaara and Shikamaru. Regulars on the Friday night and never caused much trouble, not like the two assholes who were currently commandeering his only bedroom.

Sasuke lifted a perfectly shaped eyebrow. What were these two doing here?

"What are you two doing here?"

"Naruto and Kiba,"Gaara stared down at him, the look in his eyes intimidating, but Sasuke couldn't easily be intimidated. Because quite frankly, Sasuke could kick ass. He really, really, really could…

Yeah.

Back to the conversation.

"They stayed here didn't they? We've come to take them of your hands."

Hallelujah! (and Sasuke wasn't even that religious anymore)

"Yes, they are sleeping in the bedroom," Sasuke said (maybe a little too eager), before remembering his manners, you know, the one his mother had beaten into his head time and time again. "Come in, there is coffee, seems like your friend needs it."

The raven pointed to that Shikamaru person; since he seemed to be sleeping standing up, head on Gaara's shoulder. Which was quite a feat in and of itself. The red haired giant didn't even look at his partner before he nodded, still looking intimidating and pissed off "Shikamaru is always like this."

Weird.

The three men walked into his home (Shikamaru apparently sleep walking, muttering something the likes of 'troublesome').

Sasuke decided he didn't like this Gaara person; something in his eyes was definitely off. Though he DID like the fact that he was taking the two annoying men of his hands. Yes he liked that a lot.

Sasuke poured two mugs and set them before the two men.

At the smell of coffee, Shikamaru seemed to wake up, quickly grabbing the cup and cradling it, as if someone was going to steal it from him. Was this whole city full of idiots? Or just these cops? Sasuke signed, he didn't really know them anyway; they came by their pub once in a while, that was it.

"I'll go wake them up." Shikamaru announced (surprisingly) and Sasuke nodded, watching as the brunette walked from the table and stumbled to his bedroom, before disappearing behind his door.

Several seconds later, a new set of snores was heard.

Sasuke frowned, incompetent little…!

"I apologize for my partner." Sasuke's head snapped towards Gaara. No NOT because the other freaked him out! He was just jumpy from the lack of sleep! "I dragged him out of his bed slightly earlier than he's used to; it seems it has a devastating effect on his body."

Sasuke snorted. "Isn't he just lazy?"

"Perhaps." Gaara took a sip from his coffee, still looking stoic as ever. "I expect they were quite the handful?"

"I contemplated leaving them on the side of the road."

"It's good that you didn't."

Sasuke frowned, the tone of the redhead's voice seemed…off.

"Why? Maybe they could use a night under the stars?"

"I would've been angry."

"At me?"

"Yes."

Gaara's words sounded rather forceful and as Sasuke's eyes swept over the giant's body, he noticed the clenched fists. This behaviour was familiar, he had seen it before, and he knew exactly were. It was quite funny actually; no matter how intimidating and stoic the other looked, it wasn't that hard to figger him out. He should really work on his poker face.

Sasuke smirked and he noticed that it surprised Gaara.

"I guess we wouldn't want that." Sasuke said, standing up. He took his empty mug and walked to the coffee maker again, his back to Gaara. "Don't you have work to get to? Mr Policeman?"

"Detective."

"Right; Detective." Sasuke corrected himself, he turned around, silently staring in those strange green eyes. He was glad to see a little falter in those eyes, as if the other had been expecting that his subtle intimidation was going to scare Sasuke. "Can you wake them up?"

A few more seconds were spend staring each other down, before Gaara nodded and placed his arms on the table, pushing himself up, stretching his rippling muscles. Probably on purpose; again an attempt of intimidation.

Pitiful really.

A smile found its way to Sasuke's face again when he saw Gaara disappear into his bedroom; either the red haired cop was fiercely protective over his friends or… He had a little boy crush.

Never in his life had he seen such an obvious closet case.

* * *

><p>Seriously, one moment he was sleeping soundly in a (crappy) bed, the next he was being screamed at by a very cranky Gaara. Life ain't fair.<p>

"Dude, Your killin' me here!" Naruto heard Kiba groan. "I've already got a headache from hell."

"Mmmmm troublesome." Shikamu said. Wait? Shikamaru? When the hell had that guy gotten here? Wait. What was Gaara doing here?

And Kiba, why the hell was he in his bed with him?

…Furthermore…

What was HE doing here? Or better; where the hell was he?

He groaned and slowly moved into a sitting position, his head disappearing in his hands, damn, he had a massive headache! Next to him he felt Kiba doing the same, Shikamaru, who was lying at the end of the bed didn't budge though.

"Kiba, why the hell were we sleeping in the same bed?" He managed to groan out, trying to avoid Gaara's annoyed glare; he probably wanted them to be a bit faster in getting up.

"Don't worry dude, I'm still wearing my clothes."

"Yeah, me too. Where the hell are we though?"

"No idea, you remember something about last night?"

"…something about winning? I think we won something?"

"Really? Dude that's awesome! Last thing I remember is you evading that punch from Kohana, 'cause he was pissed you grabbed his ass, and it connected with my stomach! After that… It's kind of fuzzy…"

"Kiba! We must've had such a cool time!"

"Totally dude!"

"Shikamaru is here too, tough… I don't remember him drinking with us…"

"He's still sleeping, shall we wake him? I mean, he needs to learn to be less lazy…"

"Nah, he looks so peaceful, just look at him, all snoring and stuff…"

"But Gaara is standing here too."

"Oh yeah, his sweet gentle voice awoke me…"

"Why do you think he's here dude? It's kind of creepy, him standing before the bed we wake up in."

"Kiba, don't be silly! Maybe he made breakfast for us!"

"…He doesn't look very happy."

"That one vein is throbbing…"

"Which one?"

"You know, that big one that's starts throbbing when he's irritated…"

"Oh yeah, I see it now, it really is enormous."

"Totally."

"Kiba?"

"Naruto."

"I think he can hear us."

"I think so too."

"DAMN WELL I CAN HEAR YOU! NOW GET UP! WE'VE GOT TO GET TO WORK NOW! THAT MEANS YOU TOO, SHIKAMARU!"

Needless to say, all three shot up, terrified, cowering, pissing-their-pants; Gaara was full-on scary when he was angry. Or annoyed. Or neutral. Or happy. ..Alright, Gaara was always scaring the shit out of people, but when he was angry he got even scarier. If that was even possible.

Tough, before any of them could begin pleading for their life, another voice came from the next room. "Will you stop the shouting!" Kohana appeared in the doorway, looking annoyed. "I don't know if you noticed, but it's still early and I very well will appreciate it if I wasn't kicked out of my apartment today." He pointedly glared at Gaara, who looked genuinely surprised his scary-ness didn't seem to work on Kohana.

Naruto grinned, his little muffin was so brave and cute!

"Sunshine…! You're here…!" Naruto sprung up, happily smiling. "Did you take care of us?" His hands descended on the lean shoulders and Naruto grinned down at the dark beauty. "That's so sweet of you!"

The only response he got was the arch of a delicate eyebrow and (to his delight) a small smile (which the other immediately tried to disguise with a scowl). "Idiot, stop smiling like that, you're blinding me" Kohana peeled the hands from his shoulders. "And my name's Kohana, not 'sunshine'"

"Naruto" Gaara's voice came behind him, Naruto turned, Gaara's voice sounded odd, some emotion in it he couldn't place. His face was still the same though. Scary. "We really need to get going, Tsunade is waiting."

Truly magical words, all (but Gaara) paled and they were away with in minutes.

But not before the dark raven got a friendly punch against his arm and a 'thank you' from Kiba, a sleepy nod from Shikamaru, a cold shoulder from Gaara and, standing in the doorway with the others walking ahead, a soft kiss on his forehead and one of those blinding smiles that took his breath away from Naruto.

"have a good day, Angel."

* * *

><p>"Why are you so happy?"<p>

Sakura looked up from cleaning the bar, the voice having stirred her from her thoughts. Kohana was staring at her, a real look of curiosity on his face. Which was strange, the uptight boy had never been curious for something regarding her life, or if he had he hadn't showed it.

"What's makes you think I'm happy?" She asked.

"You were whistling." Kohana answered. "Mostly that's a pretty obvious sign that somebody's in a good mood."

"Oh… I was?"

"Yes." Kohana walked towards her and leaned on the bar. "Who is it?" His dark eyes looked away. "Not that I care anyway."

Sakura smiled; Kohana could be so cute sometimes, this being one of those times. "I just had a really nice time the other day, you know, that colleague of Naruto; Lee. He's a nice guy…"

Kohana looked surprised. "That ADHD kid? You've got to be kidding…"

Sakura frowned and smacked the other with her washcloth ('hey!'). "I have you know he's really nice and a gentleman too!" Uncertainly, she looked down at her hands. "I hope he wants to meet me again…"

"You're not serious right? That guy is head over heels for you!"

Sakura looked up at her friend. "You think so?"

"Take it from me, you've got nothing to worry about."

"Thank you…" She gave Kohana a gentle smile. He really was a good friend. She was glad she met him. Then, her smile became a smirk. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You…and mister idiot-blonde?" She smiled at him. "Anything happen yet?"

The boy in front of her scoffed. "Please, off course not…" He sideways glanced at her. "Besides… wouldn't that bother you?"

"Bother me?"

"I mean, I know you two have history…"

Sakura's eyes softened and she intertwined her fingers with Kohana's, surprisingly enough, he didn't resist. "Kohana, honey, don't worry about me, I'll sort myself out."

Their eyes locked.

For a moment, Sakura thought she saw something like happiness flash in those eyes, before they became emotionless once again.

"Am I interrupting something?" Both looked up, both annoyed, both scoffing.

"So, you've finally decided to show up?" Sakura walked up to Kakashi and thrust her finger in front of his face. "I hope you know we worked ourselves to death today!"

Kakashi grinned down on her, which she found irritating. "You two can handle it, you're still young!" He happily walked around her and sat on the barstool, slapping his palm on the hard surface of the bar. "Now, let's drink!"

Three glasses were filled and Kakashi hefted his glass up, still smiling. "To young love!"

* * *

><p>Naruto ran as fast as he could. He couldn't believe it! It wasn't true! He couldn't believe it! When he finally saw the district attorney at the end of the wall, he let out a loud cry. "HEY!"<p>

The man looked around just as Naruto harshly grabbed his collar. The man's eyes widened in surprise and fear, but when he saw who had grabbed him his expression became annoyed.

"Mr. Uzumaki, what are you doi-"

"He sexually assaulted two girls and one boy! He is the reason Tracy committed suicide! What the hell are you people thinking, setting that monster free!"

"Mr. Uzumaki, control yourself!"

"No! We had enough evidence! A witness! He should be locked up forever!"

The DA's eyes became quite cold while he attempted to free himself from the harsh grip of the blonde, when he didn't succeed, his eyes now showed even more annoyance. Naruto didn't really give a flying fuck.

"A witness? That crack addict you mean? Did you really think that girl would convince the jury? And your evidence? It isn't my fault that your department can't follow procedure!"

"What are you saying?"

"It was obtained illegally!"

"It's a freaking videotape proving-"

"Illegally obtained!"

"That sick freak's free now!"

The DA finally managed to get Naruto hands from him.

"Then I suggest you get me some real evidence, soon. Detective Uzumaki."

Naruto watched as the DA walked away. Frustrated, he clenched his fists.

"Damn it."

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><p>It's really late now, so I'm going to sleep!<p>

I hope you enjoyed, I'm sorry for the late update, but it just wouldn't come!

Please review! Good? Bad? Something that needs to change?

I appreciate constructive critism too! very much so!


	9. Chapter 9

**I do not own Naruto.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 Self-defence class<strong>

_Looking back, Karin was the only one who could compete with Suigetsu. After that fateful afternoon where Karin had thrown a sponge at the silver haired menace, not once but twice, was the start of an state of absolute war between the two. Suigetsu was constantly planning ways to outsmart the red-haired girl and Karin came back with a vengeance each and every time. Though the pranks themselves where quite harmless, them being still children, the other kids and teachers started to worry. _

_Sasuke could never pinpoint the moment when those hateful glances and harsh insults changed into competitive looks, and mocking laughter. Slowly but surely both seemed to gain respect from each other and developed a rivalry instead of being enemies. This didn't mean, however, that they hang out together, it just meant they expected a good fight every time they went to school. _

_Sasuke himself didn't have any problems with Karin, not even in the beginning when Suigetsu still hated her, at least as much such a young child can hate another. In fact, he admired her strength and stubbornness, he found her much more fun than the other girls, much more interesting. He once told her that and instead of giving a sarcastic or biting retort, like he had expected, she merely blushed and smiled softly at him. Of course, Suigetsu was horrified when he found out, but Sasuke didn't really care about that; it was the truth and Suigetsu knew it. _

_Years later, both Suigetsu and Karin would call him the 'glue' of the group, the level-headed one, the leader that kept them together; it was only understandable that Sasuke was the one who finally decided that both should quit it already and become friends._

_Surprisingly enough, they both listened. _

_Saving Karin from a lonely childhood, saving Suigetsu from losing the one friend who could keep up with him._

_Sasuke could've never guessed how big of an impact the girl would have on his life._

This couldn't be happening.

Sasuke's right eye twitched as he glared at the grinning blonde on top of him, both his arms were pinned firmly by the big idiot. Sasuke tried another hopeful but ultimately fruitless attempt to get his wrists free, again, to no avail. Stupid Naruto's grin only got wider and Sasuke's face turned red from anger and admittedly a little shame. No he could not free himself, he had tried all the moves he knew but it seemed like _this one time_ brawn won over brains. More anger boiled in the pit of his stomach when he heard Naruto's quiet laughter above him.

Damn, damn, damn, he hadn't been expecting this, he had thought it would be a swift and perfect idea to get the annoying blonde to stop bothering, no _stalking_, him.

Well, that sure had backfired.

Naruto didn't seemed to mind his glare of death, instead the grin became broader.

"I win."

No shit Sherlock.

How had it turned out like this?

Well, thinking back, it came down to three _huge _mistakes.

It all began a few days ago, on Friday night, you know, that day of the week he hated, _loathed_. Of course, the crew of misfit policemen came barging in some time 'round nine, all in somewhat low spirits and looking quite depressed, which Sasuke actually found quite preferable, since they were quieter this way. Even Naruto's normally borderline harassment seemed to be at a bare minimum that night. Sasuke, content to leave them that way and not very eager to cheer them up, noted their orders and went to tend to his other customers.

Sakura, however, was different story entirely. Her face positively brightened up like a freaking Christmas tree and she positively skipped (completely ignoring the other costumers) to a rather fashion blind man with an utterly love stricken look on his face. She grabbed the man's arm and started chatting his ear off, the mostly energetic and talkative Lee listened attentively, nodding occasionally to everything she said. Any other time, Sasuke would worry about Sakura coming on too strong but since this was ADHD Lee she was chatting up, he really had no reason to worry about that (not that he really _worried_). He had noticed (it wasn't hard too)that Lee was always the centre of attention (though he shared that title with Naruto) talking and being crazy and whatnot, but whenever Sakura was around, the man became absolutely tong tied. Sasuke pitied the man really, because he had seen Sakura with her many boyfriends, and the girl was always love stricken at first, before either jealousy or boredom settled in. Sasuke guessed Sakura needed a special (_extremely special_) kind of man to be her soul mate and he wasn't so sure Mr I-am-so-youthful-and-I-have-so-many-friends-and-I-am-always-so-freaking-happy was that kind of person. Then again, you never know do you?

By the time Sasuke had returned to the counter (having gotten all the orders from the other costumers, what was Sakura thinking, being lazy and all?) the regular group and Sakura seemed engaged into a very serious conversation and the Lee guy seemed insistent for Sakura to accept some flyer. Irritated at the girl's Kakashi-act Sasuke went behind the bar to get the orders for the costumers, piling them all on the surface of the shiny tray.

Having done all that, Sasuke decided he really should go over the police group and tell them to stop bothering Sakura, because she seemed quite uncomfortable now; both Kiba, Naruto and Lee seemed to insist something to her. Of course, Sasuke knew that the pink haired would've normally kicked the group's ass for making her uncomfortable, but her new flame was amongst them, so that was out of the question.

"Hey, morons, I don't know what's going on here, but we've got work to do." He snapped at the three men surrounding Sakura, the other police-regulars had already moved away to a table in the corner, talking (very depressed it seemed) amongst each other.

Sakura shot him a grateful look, as she should've; that tray had been hell to carry, and she gave him the flyer Lee had crammed into her hands.

"They want me to take on self-defence." Sasuke looked the flyer over, indeed, it promoted self-defence classes. He scoffed, sure he was all for people being able to defend themselves and he wanted the girl to be save, but if someone knew how to fight it was Sakura. Besides what had brought this up? Before Sasuke could utter another word though, his shoulders were grabbed firmly by two strong hands and Naruto was shouting in his face.

"You too, Kohana! You should take them too!" great, as if he hadn't had a shower yet. "and this!" Naruto grabbed something from his jacket, Sasuke immediately recognized this as a pepper spray. "Take this too, and don't go anywhere without it!"

Sasuke blinked as the object was thrust into his hands, the same frantic way Lee had made Sakura hold on to the flyer. What the bleeping hell? Sasuke looked towards Sakura, who gave him a gaze that told him to hear them out. After that she turned around and tended to the costumers, just as he had done minutes ago. Lee followed her like a little puppy.

As he once again turned his head towards Naruto he noticed with a pang of irritation that the blonde was still gripping his shoulders, rather tightly too.

"What is the meaning of this?" He tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible, no one would've ever guessed he was _this_ close to ripping Naruto's arms off. Naruto blinked and straightened, serious look in place, which was rather unnerving. Kiba too was looking worriedly Sasuke, as if he could fall dead any minute.

"Well, okay, look. I just want you two to be safe okay?" Naruto started, Sasuke lifted an eyebrow and his look shifted towards Kiba, who was nodding at his friends words.

"And why, pray tell, wouldn't we be?"

Naruto took a breath. "Look, remember the other night when Kiba and I got kinda drunk and stuff?"

"How could I possibly forget?"

"yeah well…" Naruto said. "do you remember why we were celebrating? We had caught a major criminal. But the evidence didn't stick and he's free again. With such a dangerous man around… I just want you two to be safe…"

He had got to be kidding! Sasuke wasn't afraid of some low life criminal! "You do realise I'm not a woman, don't you?"

"Dude, seriously," Kiba spoke up. "Were serious, this guy's he worst and gender doesn't matter to him at all. He also goes after the gorgeous lithe ones. And dude, you're like, his type perfectly."

He almost laughed out loud, they really were idiots. "Have you any idea how big this city is? Don't you think I know not to go off with stranger? I can fight by the way, I don't need some defence classes! And what about before he was caught, you two weren't all worriedly about us then…"

Sasuke was cut off by a gentle squeeze on his shoulder and Naruto was looking determinately down at him. "Please, beautiful, just be careful…And if you don't want to do the defence classes for yourself, do it for Sakura, I think she'll only go if you do too."

Sasuke looked away, damn those blue eyes were adorable, he was making puppy eyes deliberately wasn't he? He huffed.

"_Fine_, I'll go to bloody stupid defence class."

And that, ladies and gentleman, was his first mistake.

So, a few days after, Sasuke and Sakura were both clothed into their gym clothes. Sasuke in a dark blue wife beater and black knee length slightly baggy pants. Sakura wearing almost exactly the same, but her top was red. There were several men and (far more) woman in their group and they all made light conversation until the instructor came. Sasuke was still asking himself what _in the hell _he was doing there and he knew Sakura was in the same state of mind; she had complained the whole way to the building. Sasuke huffed, irritated, as he watched Sakura being dragged away by some girl who obviously knew her, he almost sniggered when he caught sight of Sakura's face; she didn't seem very happy to see the other girl, who was currently chatting her ear off by the looks of it.

Sasuke almost got a heart attack when he felt a large hand descend on his shoulder, he immediately turned around to find a giant standing behind him. Seriously, why was he so small compared to everyone? I hadn't been nearly as bad in Japan! The man was a Afro-American, big beefy and full of muscle, he obviously wasn't there to learn about protecting oneself. Their instructor then, Sasuke was kind of impressed; the man could give Naruto's and Kiba's bulky frames a run for their money. and the man was quite handsome. The instructor smiled down at him and Sasuke gave a (little) smile back, the man had brown eyes and was bald, a huge gym bag was slung around his heavily muscled shoulder. The man removed his hand (slowly) and opened his mouth to alert the others of his presence.

"Boys, girls!" Everyone turned towards the beaming voice and some of the weaker hearted faltered when they saw the man's bulky physique. " Everyone gather 'round. I want to know who everyone is an why you've chosen to take this course."

There was a flurry of movement and everyone gathered into a circle, Sakura moved to stand next to him again.

"What we're going to do now is the 'getting-to-know-each-other round' since this course will run for six weeks I think it's important to get to know one another. Now, I'll be your instructor and my name is Andrew! I hope I'll be able to teach you all how to be safe. Now like I said before, I want every one of you to introduce yourself and tell me why you've decided to join."

There were twenty people, and Sasuke wondered if this 'getting-to-know-each-other round' wasn't just a method to scam them all out of their money, since they were paying by the hour. He really, really didn't care why the others wanted to be here, neither did he care about their names, or their ages. When Sakura was up, she politely told them she joined the self-defence class because _a friend_ had insisted. She even went red at that part, Sasuke almost smiled at that.

Then his turn had come, the last in the group, and Sasuke once again prepared his arsenal of lies, courtesy of Suigetsu. "My name is Kohana (Sasuke), I'm twenty-three years old (twenty-one) and I've joined this class because my idiot of a friend (not-really-a-friend) wouldn't leave me alone until I said yes (I couldn't resist those blue eyes)."

Andrew nodded. "I'm happy your friend convinced you, you never know…"

What did that even mean? Did everybody think he was so weak he couldn't fight himself out of a paper bag?

After that, Andrew demonstrated a few tactics and Sasuke swiftly became bored, he knew this would be a waste of time; nothing Andrew did that Sasuke didn't already know, learned in his childhood years, when he used to demonstrate his moves to his father, proudly, beaming. Sasuke seriously doubted he would learn anything new, something he didn't learn in those innocent childhood years, or those years spend in their base, fighting together with Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu.

Next, they had to practise these tactics on each other, one would hold a large punching bag-thingy while the other performed the newly shown kicks and punches. Sasuke and Sakura paired of immediately, but as fate would have it they were ripped apart even faster. Andrew stated that the couples made should be same-sex couples, as to not create advantages or disadvantages. Sasuke found it total nonsense and he saw Sakura pull a face at him too.

The friend Sakura didn't like latched herself on her and they left to the right corner of the room, Sakura grimacing. Looking around, Sasuke noticed that all the boys had already paired off, most likely afraid of the deadly scowl on the raven's face.

Andrew was the only one left.

As luck turned out, the bulky man seemed quite happy being his partner as he practically beamed down at him, and Sasuke wondered if that same gender rule hadn't been conjured up for just that purpose. Or he was being paranoid.

He blamed Naruto for that.

So they started and Andrew seemed quite impressed with his moves, Sasuke had to smirk at that. The instructor wasn't bad himself and his flexing muscles sure were a sight to behold.

Sakura did well, Sasuke saw across the room, not that he had expected anything different from the girl. When Sasuke began on his second round of punches Andrew started a conversation.

"So a friend forced into this you didn't he?" he asked casually bracing for the punches Sasuke was delivering.

"That's right." Sasuke puffed, sweat forming on his forehead. He realised he had been lazy lately.

Andrew eyes seemed to scan over him, deep in thought while still absorbing Sasuke's punches and kicks with the cushion. "Boyfriend?"

Sasuke stilled, surprised, and immediately got the hidden meaning. He shook his head and returned to kicking the living crap out of the harmless cushion. "No, he's not my boyfriend, though the idiot tries."

Andrew smirked, clearly happy with Naruto being not a boyfriend. Damn, the man was as subtle as an elephant at a Justin Bieber concert. Huh, kind of like the idiot blonde.

Suigetsu was a whole lot worse though.

"But don't you think it's good learning to protect yourself?" Mr subtle asked.

Sasuke spared him a glace before giving a slightly harder kick to the poor inanimate object. "I already know how to protect myself."

The work-out lasted another thirteen minutes, Andrew's not-very-subtle flirting increasing and Sasuke becoming more irritated by the second. By the end of it, Sasuke was ready to smash the other's face against a wall; don't get him wrong, he didn't mind flirting that much, but with every line thrown his way the bastard seemed to insinuate that he was the raven's knight in shining armour and Sasuke was the damsel in distress. Get his problem?

After that, they had come to their final task of today's lesson; defending yourself against an opponent. It was simple enough, big Andrew was standing across from you and you had to defend yourself. Which meant either working him to the ground, or finding a way around him to escape (they had to imagine that they were in a dark alleyway, the dark figure preventing escape). 'To make everything a little harder' Andrew had laughed 'I'll be holding this stick, imagine it's a knife. You're objective is not to die.'

Many of the group complained, saying it was too hard to do for their first lesson. But Sasuke guessed this was Andrews way of telling them how serious self-defence really was.

Not many survived, one girl and one boy managed to get around the bulky man without getting stabbed by the stick but that was it. The rest got skewered.

Even Sakura.

But to be fair, unlike the others Sakura didn't try to get around Andrew, no, she tried the wrestling- the-man-twice-her-size-to-the-ground approach. To her credit, she did fairly well, even managing to get Andrew on one knee… but she was also stabbed thirteen times…

After that it was his turn and it was slightly unnerving to stand before such a large man, Andrew did a good job at looking imitating. He leered at him and moved the stick (knife) through his fingers. Sasuke guessed he could take the man, he wasn't lying when he told Naruto he could take care of himself. But the things Juugo had told him still rang clear in his mind; _you can't stand out, if you want to go unnoticed, blend in. _There really wasn't any harm in _not_ kicking Andrews ass, Sasuke decided. At the same time though, his dark eyes followed the moving sick and he almost saw the shining silver instead of the ordinary wood. Andrew was Andrew, but he was also a big man preventing him any escape.

"Where do you think you're going, little boy?"

And that was just the wrong thing to say.

_The house was shrouded in darkness, but it wasn't quiet. He could hear shouts and orders tossed around; it was a miracle he hadn't been discovered yet, but if he didn't hurry up he would be soon. Damn it, where the hell had Karin gone of too? Silently he walked to the far right door, with any luck they hadn't had time to check the back door, but before he had even touched the door knob, it had flown open. _

_A big man, twice, thrice his size stood before him. The man, an obstacle laying in his path, preventing him the oh so desired freedom. _

"_Where do you think you're going, little boy?" _

Before Sasuke had even realised what he had done, he had already shot his foot out, delivering a high kick to Andrews hand, the one that was holding the 'knife'. Andrew seemed shocked as the object was flung out of his hand. The man was stronger, Sasuke knew this, but most of the time the muscle only mattered if you were already pinned, if you were still standing, the brain was a great weapon. It was all about tactics, a game of chess, guessing your enemies moves and acting accordingly. For some reason, he had always been good at that. With a swift punch to Andrew's (cushion-helm-wearing) head, the big man was on the ground and Sasuke immediately grabbed the instructor's arm and twisted it behind his back, he straddled the heavy body and grabbed the stick from where it had fallen. Sasuke held it to Andrew's throat.

"Death"

This was his second mistake.

There was a very stunned silence after that, Sasuke guessed it had been quite a sight; him pinning down someone considerably bigger and broader than him, he had done it quickly too. Sasuke immediately berated himself; so much for not standing out!

The silence was interrupted by someone applauding him, a strong rhythmic sound. When Sasuke turned around (still holding Andrew down) he got the shock of his life.

Naruto.

The bastard was grinning like a fool and applauding quite stupidly, of course, the blonde's interruption of the silence prompted his little audience into sound as well. Sasuke was hailed off Andrew by Sakura and given praises and hugs, each one telling him how great he had done. Even Andrew, after he managed to get up, patted his back and gave him an appreciative smile.

"I guess you really can take care of yourself, Kohana."

With that, everyone was dismissed. Sasuke saw that Sakura was once again swept away by a group of girls who had probably been impressed by her performance too. As his group walked by he got several other congratulating praises and gestures. Andrew excused himself to go tend after a nasty bruise he had gotten from his tumble to the floor.

That left Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto had been longing on the side, watching the lesson, Sasuke realised this and as Andrew retreated to his chamber both greeted each other like friends. When Andrew had gone, Sasuke couldn't contain his questions any longer.

"How long have you been standing there?" He glared at Naruto.

"Long enough to see you kick some serious ass! Wow I didn't knew you could fight like that! Have you had fighting lessons or something?"

"None of your business Uzumaki, why are you even here? Did you come to check if we attended?"

Naruto blinked. "No, off course not, I volunteer teaching advanced self-defence. My lesson ended, and I figured I'd take a look."

"Oh… alright." Sasuke accepted his explanation. "Well, I hope you understand now that I don't need any fighting lessons."

Naruto frowned. "What? No! You should keep attending! Why don't you come to my advanced lessons?"

Sasuke pursed his lips. "Because I don't need to, I can defend myself just fine."

"Against Andrew, sure, but he fights without any good tactics. You wouldn't stand a chance against me!"

"Yes I would." Sasuke told the infuriating blonde, highly irritated.

Then Naruto smirked. Sasuke really should've known better, that smirk never meant anything good for him. Sasuke lifted a delicate eyebrow at the blonde. "What is it?"

"So you're sure you can beat me?" he asked cockily, clearly thinking Sasuke was barking mad.

Sasuke eyed Naruto condescending "Of course I can."

"Then prove it." Naruto challenged. "If you beat me, I won't bother you with fighting lessons anymore."

Huh, that sounded promising. "And if you win?"

"You have to go on a date with me." Sasuke almost fell down, surprise on his face. Next came the glare. "A date?"

"Yes, a date!"

Sasuke scoffed. "That doesn't seem very fair, I can lose far more with this bet than you."

"Take it or leave it."

Sasuke knew it wasn't smart to engage in the challenge, but his pride was urging him to say yes, to accept the challenge. It had been so long since he could've let out some steam, some real steam and Sasuke was aching to punch that smirk right of the blonde's face. He knew it wasn't smart, he would stand out more, but this was Naruto and for some inexplicable reason, Sasuke knew he didn't need to fear the blonde.

So he accepted.

And that was his third and final mistake.

Andrew and Naruto sure were from a whole different calibre. Naruto didn't rely on his strength alone, he used manoeuvres and tactics to get the upper hand. As both of them wrestled for the win, Sasuke realised the blonde wasn't even trying his hardest; no direct punches or kicks, he never really hurt him. That didn't mean Sasuke didn't pose as a difficult challenge, though, the raven moved his body like a cat, dodging and striking. But finally, when Sasuke tried to land a high kick on the blonde's jaw, the blue eyes twinkled and his foot was grabbed mid-air; Naruto had expected that move. A kick to Sasuke's other leg and the raven lost his balance, falling to the ground.

Naruto didn't waste any time in climbing over him and pinning his wrists to the floor with his hands. All attempts to break free futile.

This really couldn't be happening.

He had to go on a date with that damn idiot.

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><p>I'm sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, I know it isn't even that good. But I had a major case of Naruto-writers-block, since I had real trouble with this story but not with my other one. I'm trying not to loose hope with this story...<p>

But yeah, enough about me being depressed!

But yeah, I hope you enjoyed it!

Bye,

Fluffyfun91

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><p><strong>AN 03-08-2012 Dear readers,<strong>

**It might've not escaped some readers notice that I haven't updated this story in quite some while, I'm terribly sorry about this. I always hate when writers stop updating a story and then start updating other, newer stories, something I am ashamed to admit I have been doing. I can go on and start listing reasons why I haven't been able to update, the one even silier than the other, but the fact is that I haven't been able to write anything of value for this story in a long time, rest assured I have tried, but sometimes a massive writers block stays a massive writesr block, no matter how you've wished it was different. The fact that I've been moving away from Naruto and towards Hetalia doesn't help matters much. Also, when I read the story I cringe at the way it is written. That said, I am extremely sorry, but it might be better to set this story on hiatus. Maybe, I will be writing again, since lately I've read a few Narusasu sories that have renewed my interest. But this also depends on the amount of enthousiasm there still is left from readers who haven't seen my story updated in such a long time; I can understand that you all have lost patience with me.**

**That said, I wish everybody a good day. **

**Fluffyfun91**


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